


The Right to Exist

by Rosebud1773



Series: Welcome to the Snark Side: A Shakarian Trip [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Epic Battles, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Near Death Experiences, Romance, The Reaper War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:54:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 59
Words: 111,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22652830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosebud1773/pseuds/Rosebud1773
Summary: We're gathering resources, both people and materials, to fight this war. The Crucible, it's our only real hope now. We, as a galaxy, need to be a united force to stand against the Reapers. It needs to happen. I'll make it happen. We have to win this thing. Our very right to exist, those are the stakes. It doesn't get anymore desperate than that. This is our last chance, our last stand...… and we will come out the other side.- Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Welcome to the Snark Side: A Shakarian Trip [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595116
Comments: 634
Kudos: 109





	1. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard finds herself in the middle of a heated negotiation between the salarian dalatrass, the krogan chief and the turian primarch.

The Normandy was quiet for the moment, but Shepard knew that was not to last. Wrex was loud and obnoxious, but she loved him like a brother. The moment she stepped off the elevator, Traynor caught her. Apparently both the salarian and korgan representatives were currently on the Citadel.

“Commander, the salarian dalatrass and krogan clan chief are ready to come aboard.”

 _Here it comes. I just hope Wrex doesn't threaten to eat the salarian's liver this time_. “Have them brought to the conference room.” Shepard ordered. She hoped that was the best place to maintain control of the situation. Under her breath, she muttered as she stepped up to the railing and took a quick look at the galaxy map. “And hope this doesn't start another war.”

After carefully cataloging the systems with a Reaper presence, she turned and headed toward the conference room herself. She did not rush. Instead, she touched the implant next to her ear and patched into the command hub, where she knew Victus would be. “Primarch, would you mind joining me in the conference room?”

“On my way, Commander.” his tone was clipped, but polite.

There was already chaos brewing when she entered the room. The salarian dalatrass was practically yelling as she pointed at no one in particular. “The krogan is in no position to make demands!”

“The 'krogan' has a _name_ : _Urdnot Wrex_. And I'm not some junkyard varren you unleash whenever you're in trouble.” Wrex growled, leaning on the table and glaring at the salarian. As Shepard took up her position at the head of the table, he nodded at her and continued. “I've got my own problems. Reaper scouts have arrived on Tuchanka. So why should I care if a few turians go extinct?”

“Trying to draw out negotiations will get you nowhere, Wrex. I have no time for it. Just tell us what you want.” Victus stated as he returned the krogan's glare, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I'll tell you what I need...” Wrex leaned on the table again and made direct eye contact with the dalatrass before glancing at the rest of them. “A cure for the genophage.”

Shepard watched the dalatrass' face go from neutral to something mixed between supprise and horror. She waved the idea off. “Absolutely not. The genophage is nonnegotiable.”

“Why are you so opposed to the idea, Dalatrass?” Shepard needed that information. She needed to know exactly why the salarians refused to even consider such a bargain.

“Because my people uplifted the krogan. We know them best.” she said coldly.

“You mean you used us! To fight a war you couldn't win!” Wrex pushed himself away from the table to his full height and snapped. He turned to face Shepard as he continued. “It wasn't the salarians or the asari or even the turians that stopped the rachni! It was krogan blood that turned the tide!”

“And after that, you ceased to be useful!” the dalatrass snapped back at him, uncrossing her arms. “The genophage was the only way to keep your.... 'urges' in check.”

“Dalatrass, you may not like him, but Wrex is right. Insulting him won't change that.” Victus spoke up, moving closer to the table.

“I won't apologize for speaking the truth!” she continued to be hostile even to the turian. “We uplifted the krogan to do one thing: wage war. It's all they know because it's all we wanted them to know.”

“And that's the reason they revolted. Your people didn't think there might be consequences for their actions.” Shepard spoke up. She wanted the salarian woman to understand this meeting was meant to mend the rift, not make it completely impassable.

“That's precisely my point, Commander. We made a rash decision. We turned to the krogan out of desperation.” the dalatrass turned toward her then and crossed her arms. “It's the same mistake you're about to make today. No good can come from curing the genophage.”

“The krogan have _paid_ for their mistakes..... and yours as well. The genophage has gone on long enough. Don't you think it's time to give them the benefit of the doubt?” Shepard made a point to include the mistakes of the salarian people in that equation. Their hands were certainly not clean.

“One thousand, four hundred and seventy-six years, if you're keeping track.” Wrex said in a tone that about as quiet as Shepard had ever heard from him.

“It was a thousand years of peace, from these.... _brutes_!” the dalatrass refused to look at him, but she seemed have no problem pointing at him.

Victus was leaning on his end of the table looking angrier by the second. His voice was a growl when it finally erupted from him. “Enough! Whether or not they deserve a cure is academic. It would take _years_ to formulate one.”

“My information says otherwise.” Wrex shifted at that and glanced at Shepard. A moment later, he walked to the turian's end of the table and pulled the information via the console he had clearly stored on his omni-tool. “A salarian scientist, Maelon, grew a concsience. He was on my planet testing a cure on our females.”

“I remember him. His methods were barbaric.” Shepard nodded from the other side of the table.

“But what you didn't know is that other females survived his experiments.” Wrex had turned to face the wall instead of the rest of them as he pulled up the vids. “So the dalatrass here sent in a team to clean up the whole mess – and to take them prisoner.”

“Where did you get this? It... It could be a fabrication!” the dalatrass snarled, arms crossed defensively.

Shepard realized she did not like this salarian. She was hostile, snapping at all of them and certainly in no way ready to negotiate anything. It seemed she wanted the help that might be offered without offering anything in exchange. _And I thought Miranda was a bitch.... She's practically a glitter fairy compared to this woman_.

“Don't insult me! Those are _my_ people! They're immune to the genophage and you're going to _give_ them _back_!” Wrex snapped and pointed at the salarian woman. Trouble was just about to burst out of him.

“Dalatrass, is this true?” Victus stepped back to the table and asked her in clear exasperation.

The dalatrass gave him a disgusted laugh. “How will _curing_ the genophage benefit _my_ people?”

“How long do you think your people will last.... alone.... against the Reapers? I doubt it'll be long without help. That's how it will end.... Sur'Kesh and her colonies.... alone. Is that what you want? If so, we can end these talks right here, right now.”

“And I'll be the last friendly turian you _ever_ see.” Victus stepped in closer to the salarian woman with a widening of his mandibles that Shepard knew for a nasty smile.

“What's it gonna be?” Shepard asked simply. She had not expected Victus to add that perfect finishing touch to her argument.

The dalatrass rubbed at her eyes with tow long fingers for a moment before finally offering up some information. “The females are being _kept_ at one of our STG facilities on Sur'Kesh. But I warn you, Commander, the consequences of this will be felt for centuries to come!”

Shepard ignored her angrily pointing finger as she headed toward the other side of the room. The words struck her just right and she saw red as she turned, striding back toward the table to glare at the salarian. “Those consequences will be _nothing_ compared to what happens if the Reapers win.”

“Let's get the females.” Wrex grumbled, pulling her out of the sudden rage that had her leaning on the table top considering the merits of strangling the salarian woman on the spot.

“You're not setting foot on Sur'Kesh. This will take time to – ” the dalatrass began, still finding the guile to be snappish.

“It happens _now_. As a Council Spectre, Shepard can oversee the exchange.” Victus swooped in again to diffuse the dalatrass' argument.

“We're going and I'm taking _him_ with me.” Shepard growled at the female, hitching her thumb toward Wrex just to piss her off even more. She was begging the salarian to come after her. It would give her all the reason in the galaxy to toss her in an escape pod and jettison her. Of course she would send a message to the Council to retrieve her, but after they secured the krogan females.

Sadly, the salarian stood her ground. Instead, she continued to belly ache. “I won't forget this, Commander! A bully has few friends when he needs them most!”

Shepard stopped in the doorway and made a point of looking around the now empty room. “Maybe you should try look around you, Dalatrass.”

The salarian's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she turned toward the viewports in anger. Shepard followed the other two toward the CIC. She had had enough of attempting to negotiate with that vile woman in there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor fixes...


	2. Krogan Airdrop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy shuttle is not immediately cleared to land and Wrex decides to 'drop in' on the salarians.

“Joker, what's our ETA to Sur'Kesh?” Shepard asked as she stepped up to the railing before the galaxy map.

“One minute, thirty seconds, Commander.” Joker answered.

“Good.” Shepard acknowledged and tapped the implant near her ear to patch through to the security team always on hand at the decon zone. “Inform the dalatrass that she can get the _hell_ _off_ my ship..... now, peacefully. Otherwise, I may consider tossing her out the nearest airlock when we enter orbit.”

“Acknowledged.” one of the privates said uncomfortably.

Shepard knew her security team. She knew they would be considerate about it and leave out certain, more colorful details. Right now, she did not care how they convinced her to leave so long as they managed to herd the female off the Normandy. She would deal with the repercussions later.

Stepping away from the railing, she headed for the shuttle bay. Wrex, she knew, would already be waiting in the shuttle. She patched through to the ship's comm as she stepped into the elevator. “Garrus, Liara... Meet me at the shuttle. We're heading down to Sur'Kesh.”

The elevator took minutes only to open on the shuttle bay. Garrus was already there, checking his rifle. The new mods were holding up much better than his old field mods had. The look on his face said he had already been razzed up one side of the shuttle bay and down the other by Wrex. The krogan was great at tormenting the turian to no end. She knew that was why they got along so well. Part of her wondered if they would ever admit that they were friends. _Each of them has been raised to hate the other and yet....here they are_.

Liara was sitting inside the shuttle with Wrex, one hand over her mouth while the other arm subtly braced her abdomen. Silent laughter shook her shoulders. All at the turian's expense, Shepard was sure as she glanced between them and Garrus. He thrust his chin toward them with a faint snort and continued oiling down the upper barrel of his rifle.

“That bad, huh?” Shepard asked quietly as she drew in near his shoulder.

“Wrex says he _smells_ us all over each other.” Garrus grumbled as he wiped one last smudge of grease from the edge of the barrel. “I think Liara told him.”

“I dunno.... krogan noses are pretty sensitive.” Shepard said with a conspiratory smile as she put her hand on his armored shoulder before heading up the shuttle's ramp.

“Hmm... maybe...” he said softly, drawing out the last word as he tossed the rag onto the workbench and headed up the ramp.

“You two finally figured out what the rest of us have known since the SR-1, huh?” Wrex asked, a sparkle in his eye that Shepard was not too thrilled about.

“Wrex...” she gave him a warning look.

“Yeah, whatever.... Still a good reason to get drunk and throw a hell of a party.” Wrex locked his hand into one of the personnel handles just before the shuttle launched. “Liara said you already made it official. Damn, Shepard.... _bonded_... to skinny legs? I guess it could have been worse.”

“Yeah...” Shepard huffed and glared at him.

“He could have been a salarian.” Wrex roared with laughter and Garrus just glared at him.

“Laugh it up, Wrex, but remember.... this is the salarian homeworld we're headed to. They're not used to seeing krogan here, so... just... keep it simple.” Shepard felt as if she were begging a child to play nice. “We land, get the females and leave before anyone changes their mind.”

The krogan's attitude changed in a flash at that and he started checking his shotgun over. “I still don't trust a word they say.”

“Let diplomacy play out, Wrex. You'll get what you want.” Shepard said and grabbed the handle closest to him as they hit some turbulence. She thought of the dalatrass and how her security team would handle her. Better that she put her own advice into practice with that one.

“These females are the best,... and probably... last hope for my people.” Wrex growled.

“We'll bring them back, Wrex. Don't worry.” Liara said leaning forward in her seat.

“I appreciate that, Liara. I wouldn't want anyone else along for the ride.” Wrex said with a smile.

The cough and clearing of the throat from Garrus drew everyone's attention. Shepard tried to suppress a snicker. She completely failed at the mock sound of duress in Wrex's voice when he spoke.

“I supposed I can make room for you, too, Garrus.” the krogan laughed when his expression broke into a smile.

“Figured you'd gone soft sitting on your throne, forgot how to hold a gun.” Garrus gave him a half smile, turian fashion.

“Commander, I have the salarian base on sensors.” Cortez announced.

“Set her down.” Shepard glanced over her shoulder toward him.

“Commander, we've got a problem... Salarian ground control says we don't have clearance to land.” Cortez said with a slight growl to his voice.

“Tell them the dalatrass authorized this herself.” Shepard stepped into the cubby that served as a cockpit and crossed her arms. _Figures.... forcing that shrew to leave the Normandy asap is gonna reach up and bite me in the ass_.

“I knew they'd never keep their word.” Wrex snarled from the rear of the shuttle. He began moving toward the hatch with determined strides. “Let's see them try to stop a krogan airdrop.”

“Wrex!” Shepard barked as if snapping at a child.

“Aarrgh...” Wrex growled and launched himself out of the shuttle. They must have been a good twenty feet off the ground and he still managed to land on his feet, albeit with the support of his hands.

“We have an unauthorized....landing.” one of the salarians announced over his comm.

“And who authorized _you_ to hold my race hostage?” Wrex snarled and hit them with a biotic blast.

A moment later, targets were painted all over him via snipers on the roof of the building. Shepard wasted no time, she nodded to the others and dropped to the ground. They followed her in seconds.

“Halt!” another salarian shouted.

“Stand down! Hold your fire!” came the frantic voice of yet another male. He shielded his face from the stir of dirt and dust driven into the air by the shuttle's thrusters as he came running. “Commander Shepard, restrain your colleague. We only found out about this transfer a few moments ago.”

“I'd like to avoid a diplomatic incident, if at all possible.” Shepard said stepping up to the man.

“As would we.” the salarian male said with a nod.

“You have something valuable to Wrex.” she stated calmly.

“Something worth dying for.” the krogan chimed in.

“This matter _can_ be resolved, but I must insist _he_ remain under guard.” the salarian looked around at his men thoughtfully.

A wordless growl issued forth from Wrex, but he made no further move. Shepard looked him in the eyes. “I can handle this, Wrex.”

“Anything goes wrong and all bets are off.” Wrex growled as he stowed his shotgun.


	3. Krogan Humor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Wrex admits he and Garrus are friends, it goes a long way to sooth the turian's anxieties over his missing family.

Garrus held back with Wrex and Liara as Shepard walked a few feet away with the salarian. He doubted the others could hear the conversation. There were a few perks to having eaten a missile. Chakwas had made sure the cybernetic replacement for his right eardrum was in place before Shepard dropped him on Palaven. The receiver was embedded just beneath the scarred flesh and still accessible with his omni-tool. He opened the 'tool briefly, tweaking the volume.

“Are you doing what I think you're doing, Garrus?” Liara gave him a sideways glance.

“Hmm... depends....” Garrus could not help the widening of his mandibles in a slight turian smile.

“You're much sneakier than I ever gave you credit for.” Liara half growled at him, but there was a faint smile on her face.

“What makes you say that?” Garrus asked, his voice smooth as velvet.

“You're listening in on them.” it was not a question.

“I... uh.... don't know..... what you're talking about.” the turian did not make eye contact with the asari. He knew that if he did, she would see the mischief in his eyes. She was getting too good at reading turian expressions.

Wrex shoved the salarian before him out of the way and closed in on them. Apparently the krogan was just as curious as the asari. Garrus knew the bigger male would stomp over the salarians in his path if the need arose.

“I'm Padok Wiks, and I appreciate your understanding, Commander. With war on everyone's minds, our people are on edge.” the salarian was saying.

Garrus tried not to cringe when he saw the yahg being transported in a 'box' up above. It fought the containment fields around it viciously in an attempt to escape. All he saw was the previous Shadow Broker, however.

“Careful! Watch the containment shield!” one of the scientists shouted as the container was set down.

“I'd hoped _never_ to see one of _those_ again.” Liara looked away from it, locking her eyes on Garrus. Her reaction clearly that of discomfort.

Garrus glanced at the asari and could not help but shift his weight from foot to foot. He said nothing, but he remembered. The last yahg he had seen had given him a nasty concussion and sheered off one of the smaller spines of his fringe. It had taken it months to grow back in. He honestly had to admit, he did not want to see another yahg either, but there it was.

“As you can see, this base contains sensitive information.” Wiks was saying.

“What exactly is being done here?” Shepard asked, she sounded irritated at seeing the yahg.

“Evolutionary trials. Morphological simulations. Exogenetic assessments.” Wiks answered.

“Nothing is ever _simple_ with salarians, is it?” Shepard sounded just a little uneasy with his answer.

“Science has always been our best defense.” Wiks was clearly defending his answer or maybe the ethics of his answer. “The research we do here has kept Sur'Kesh safe for millennia.”

“Does that include studying lost krogan?” the commander's attitude was changing rapidly. Her voice took on an edge of irritation.

“Those females were in poor health when we found them on Tuchanka. We brought them here as a mercy, to stabilize they condition.” Wiks remained defensive.

Garrus glanced up at Wrex when a couple of salarians motioned for him to go with them. The krogan was grumbling all the way down the stairs. “This whole planet smells wrong.”

“I'd like to see the females.” Shepard had glanced at Wrex and now returned her gaze to the salarian before her.

Wiks stood there for a moment, squirming. Clearly he was unprepared for that request. After a couple of breaths, he finally said. “Of course. I'll need to clear you for the lower levels. Give me a few moments and meet me near the elevator.”

The salarian had barely finished his statement before he was heading off toward a security console. Garrus and Liara had stepped in closer to Shepard as soon as he left. They followed her down the stairs to the men holding Wrex under guard. It was obvious the krogan was bored. He had begun attempting conversation with his 'captors'.

“This is where all you salarians come from... huh? No wonder you're so soft. Too busy writing poetry about waterfalls.” Wrex said sarcastically. He shifted uncomfortably when Shepard briefly touched his shoulder pad. “Shepard, I don't like this. I should be the one going in.”

“How 'bout you stay here and we only fight one war at a time?” Shepard smiled at him.

Wrex looked at her with one eye. Garrus still found that a little disturbing. The krogan stretched slightly and turned to face her and the rest of the team. “That was just good old-fashioned krogan hot air. If it'd been real, they'd be dead.”

“How much do you know about these females, Wrex?” clearly Shepard could not resist her curiosity.

“They weren't fertile, so we used them as decoys to draw off enemies from the ones who were.” the answer sounded a little cold before he continued. There was a dangerous look in his eyes when he glanced toward one of his guards. “But Maelon's experiments changed that. These damn _pyjacks_ stole them right out from under us.”

Shepard just stared at him for a couple of minutes. Garrus could see the pulse point just below her jaw pick up pace. The steady stream of vitals from his visor told him what he already knew, she did not like what Wrex was saying.

“That's a pretty brutal way to use your women, Wrex.” she finally growled at the bigger male.

“The _females_ suggested it. We've had to make a lot of tough choices to ensure we don't all die off.” the krogan's voice shifted in tone to something softer, almost sad as he explained.

“What a horrible way to live.” Liara stated and Garrus found he could do nothing more than agree.

“It's just one more thing that'll get better when the genophage is cured.” Wrex brightened, adding a smile to his words.

Shepard looked out over the room at the salarians working at various stations. “Who tipped you off about the females here?”

“Sorry, Shepard, but they're listening to every word we say.” Wrex was smart enough to know better than to give up his source with so many ears around them. He glanced at the salarian guard with an almost hungry smile. His next statement was dished up with a chuckle. “I prefer _my_ salarian liver served raw.”

Garrus watched both guards squirm, one frowning as he squeezed his gun a little harder. Honestly, he could not blame the male. If Javik had come out of cryo with a suggestion of serving up a side of fried turian, he would have cringed as well.

“Besides, you'd think this is the kind of thing the Shadow Broker would have known about.” Wrex continued, eyeing Liara suspiciously. “Too bad I don't _know_ him, or _her_.”

“I'm sure the Broker was very busy.” Liara shifted uncomfortably at the krogan's implications.

Shepard facepalmed at the digging between the two of them. Garrus could almost see the interrupt coming. The commander was about to change the subject. He resisted the smile that tried to spread his mandibles. She was practically an artist when it came to swaying a conversation in the direction she wanted it to take.

“You said something about Reapers being sighted on Tuchanka earlier... How bad is it?” Shepard, without fail, changed the subject.

“Clans Jorgal and Ravanor sighted a few landing parties. It's not bad yet, but....” Wrex paused, glancing back at the salarian before him. Garrus doubted the krogan actually saw the male, however, before he continued. “Tuchanka might be a radioactive pile of rubble, but it's our pile, and we'll fight to the last krogan to keep it that way.”

“Radioactive?” Garrus asked with an almost playful quality to his voice.

Wrex laughed and stepped toward him. “Garrus.... I have to make friends with the one turian in the galaxy who thinks he's _funny_.”

Garrus shifted and ducked his head slightly, giving the krogan a sideways look. To hear him admit that they were friends seemed to sooth just a little of the anxiety knifing along the edges of his thoughts over his missing family. “Imagine how _I_ feel. I'm supposed to _hate_ krogan, but you came along and _warmed_ my heart with your _winning_ personality.”

“I could throw a few salarians off a cliff... _if_ it'll make you feel better.” Wrex snickered.

“That's what I always liked about you, Wrex.” Liara nodded.

“My smoldering good looks?” the krogan asked, flexing.

Garrus did his best not to laugh out loud at that. Liara, however, simply chuckled as she leaned in toward the krogan just a little. “There _is_ that. But you've never given up, and that determination's about to pay off.”

“Yeah... Who would've thought back on Virmire we'd be standing here doing this together?” Wrex eyed her and Garrus almost thought he saw something akin to desire in those big red eyes.

“Are your people ready, Wrex. Will they fight the Reapers?” Shepard asked after a moment. The look on her face told him she must have noticed the look Wrex had given Liara as well.

“I figured this day would come the second Sovereign showed up. My people have spent too much time selling ourselves out as mercenaries. Now we can get back to doing what krogan do best – saving everyone else from giant _monsters_.” with that, Wrex's eyes settled on Garrus.

“Never going to let us forget about the Rachni Wars, are you?” Garrus felt the need to add something more to this conversation as he shifted his weight.

“Last time I was at the Citadel, I didn't see a turian statue in _your_ honor.” Wrex retorted with a laugh.

“Just wait till this war is over.” Garrus snarked.

“Haha... What are you smokin', Garrus? Whatever it is, you can keep it. I'd rather have some salarians for lunch.” Wrex laughed and turned to stare at the salarian behind him. He laughed even louder when the male squirmed and gripped his gun tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had some fun with this chapter. Mixed Liara into it too. The trouble with her, is that if you run with her in squad here, she will override nearly all the great bro-banter between Garrus and Wrex. I thought it would be nice to toss them together. 
> 
> Javik might have been fun here too. Probably arguing with Wrex how best to serve salarian. [I haven't actually run that scenario...yet]


	4. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard navigates the upper, unclassified level of the base and finds herself filled with doubt about their odds of winning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes that angst hammer again....lol.

Shepard nodded at the krogan and stepped away, her team stayed put for the moment. They would join her once she had that access Wiks had promised. As she passed them, she heard a couple of the scientists to her left talking between themselves. She had expected to hear them chatting about one specimen or another. Instead, they were discussing Palaven and the war there.

“A cipher analyst over in intel told me the turians can't hold out much longer. He's hearing the Reapers have them against the wall.” the younger looking male of the pair said.

“The turians have the biggest fleet in the galaxy.” the other said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, and we're only a few mass effect relays away from the whole mess.” the first said anxiously.

Realizing there was nothing she could do or say to alleviate their fears, Shepard kept moving. She stopped near a salarian running a diagnostic on a graphing program. He acknowledged her with a request as if she were a child.

“Please don't touch that.” he glanced at her and she shifted her weight, opening her mouth to ask him a question. “As I said, Commander. Don't touch that.”

Crossing her arms, a streak of mischief she simply could not ignore rolled up her spine and she leaned over the edge of his console to get a better look at the smaller screen.

“Again, I would ask you to refrain from touching that.” he grumbled at her. She was tempted to touch the console anyway. “Perhaps 'don't touch that' means something different in your language.”

“Fine...” Shepard huffed and could not conceal her smile. “I had no intention of touching the console. I'm looking for Wiks. Any idea where I can find him?”

The salarian raised up to look her in the eyes and shook his head at the smile she gave him. “Touch it all you want. You'll never find out what it does.”

Just to prove him wrong, she did touch a couple of keys and brought up a small gauge. “Really? Looks like barometric readings to me. You're monitoring the current weather conditions around this facility.”

“Wiks is over there. Go.... annoying human.” the salarian crossed his arms then turned a fraction and pointed down the stairs she had just come up.

“Thanks.” Shepard said and moved off. She heard several others complaining about the release of the krogan females and the possible cure of the genophage. Those comments she stored away with the rest of the objections she had heard over the last few years. All were regarding the courses of action that best benefited the galaxy as a whole. Few seemed to truly comprehend exactly what it was going to take to defeat the Reapers.

As she took the last step down, she saw a familiar salarian face ducked down checking a stack of crates. “Kirrahe?”

The salarian looked up and smiled before rising to his feet. “Commander Shepard. I'd heard you were coming. It's major now...”

“Good to see you again. Sounds like you've been promoted.” she shook his hand with a nod.

“Yes, due in no small part to our mission on Virmire. 'Hold the line'. You saved my men that day.” Kirrahe said as he leaned against the stack of crates.

“Good to see a friendly face, Major.” Garrus said unexpectedly at her shoulder and took the salarian's hand in the universal show of fellowship.

“Garrus Vakarian. Always a pleasure.” Kirrahe said brightly, gripping the turian's hand firmly. “New markings, I see. Promotion?”

Shepard glanced at Garrus wondering when he had left Wrex to join her. She took note of the strained look on his face when he answered Kirrahe. “Something like that.”

“It seems the Reapers have a way of bringing us together.” Kirrahe said, leaning against the crates.

“I guess we're all still feeling the affects of Virmire.” Shepard shrugged. She still kicked herself for being forced to choose between Kaidan and Ash that day. In hindsight, she wondered if it might not have been better to let Kaidan dance with that bomb. That thought just made her kick herself all the more.

“Yes, ironic. You destroyed the genophage cure, yet now it's the key to an alliance.” Kirrahe shrugged and crossed his arms. “Your stand-off with Urdnot Wrex is _legend_ within STG.”

“I'm sure you saw Wrex's entrance.” Shepard glanced off toward the krogan.

The salarian major smiled and tilted his head. “Our colonies three systems away saw it.”

“He's not too happy with the security arrangements.” Garrus said sounding as if he were trying to suppress a snicker.

“Apologies, but better that than a krogan with a shotgun wandering the base.” Kirrahe simply stated. “Think of all the casualties. Our med bay couldn't handle it.”

“How'd you get posted to this base, Major?” Shepard asked, a genuine curiosity brewing there.

“I lead the team on Tuchanka that found the females. Nasty business. Maelon may have meant well, but his operation was....crude.”

“So you brought them here?”

“'Evolutionary paradigms', that's what our scientists think of them. They say it's important to preserve them.” Kirrahe said with a note of skepticism in his voice. “I say when people know you're hiding something valuable, they'll want to steal it. The females will be your problem soon enough.”

Shepard tried to gauge where he really stood on the subject. To her, he did not sound overly enthusiastic one way or the other. She supposed it did not really matter how he felt about it so long as he carried out his orders. Changing the subject, she finally asked. “Are your people prepared for the Reapers?”

Kirrahe glanced away from her at that, his large eyes blinking a couple of times before he glanced back. “I've heard what they're doing to your Earth. I'm not sure any species can prepare for that. Though rumors suggest you're building a superweapon of some kind?”

Shepard nodded. There was no reason to keep the Crucible a secret from him. “This business with the female krogan is part of it. I need the turian's support and they need the krogan's.”

“And that's why I never became a diplomat. Too much hand-holding. Leave it to the dalatrasses.” Kirrahe grumbled.

“Nice seeing you again, Major.” Shepard sighed.

“Likewise. And Commander...” he leaned in and put his hand on her shoulder. It was the first time he had ever touched her. His voice was lower when he spoke again. “regardless of what the politicians decide, you can count on my support retaking Earth.”

“You'd do that?” Shepard asked quietly, locking eyes with the male. She stumbled very slightly at the realization of what he was saying.

He took her hand and firmly shook it with a grim smile. “Consider it my way of returning a favor. It would be an honor to fight alongside you again.”

Shepard took a shuddering breath she tried to hide behind that 'Commander' mask she always wore these days. The salarian nodded at her and returned to his work securing the crates to the pallet. The second she thought she had control, she nodded back at him. “The honor would be mine, Kirrahe.”

Stepping away from him, she headed toward the half-wall around the parameter of the facility. She needed a moment before she spoke to Wiks. The turian hand that gently gripped her elbow and guided her right up to that wall was unexpected.

“Seeing this place,... you'd almost forget there's a war going on.” Garrus commented as he leaned on the railing overlooking the glorious view of nature the salarian homeworld had to offer.

“It's just as beautiful as Earth.... before the Reapers invaded.” Shepard joined him and looked out at the misty forests covering the mountains.

“Some day I'll have to show you the Danori Spires on Palaven. If they're still there.” the turian's voice caught on the last sentence as he gazed out at the vista before them.

So much had already been lost. She fervently hoped those spires were still present, for her bondmate's sake, at least. _Earth and Palaven, two worlds the Reapers have already virtually destroyed. How much will remain of either of them once this war ends? How many more worlds will they rip through before we stop them?_

Shepard wiped at one eye angrily, frowning out at the beauty before her. It was too much and she knew it was only going to get worse. She had to keep pushing forward, driving herself toward the goal she had set long ago. It was the only hope any of them had left now. In that moment, however, she was filled with doubt. An impossible task, that was how it felt. She felt small, insignificant when faced with the odds stacked against her.

Glancing up at the turian when his hand gripped her shoulder, she turned to face him. His other hand gently brushed away the tear she had been trying desperately to hide. He ducked his plated brow down to meet her smooth forehead and closed his eyes briefly. Clearly he no longer cared who saw the affection he showed her or what they had to say.

Garrus opened his eyes again and locked those icy blue orbs with hers, determination etching into every line of his face. “We _can_ win this war, Shepard. I _have_ to believe that. We both do...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Barometer just sounds so much better than feces analyzer here, btw...lol.


	5. Assurances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard finds a familiar face among the salarian scientists.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A really short chapter here. A lot going on today...

Shepard's hands gripped the flex-mesh between chest plate and shoulder pads of the turian's armor as he spoke. His voice was soft, but she could just hear the notes of commander resonating through his sub-harmonics. Nodding, she stepped away from him and turned toward Wiks. They had a mission ahead of them and she needed everyone at their best. That included herself. There was no time for her emotional stability to crumble or collapse now. She stuffed everything she felt about the destruction of her world as far behind the 'Commander Shepard' mask as she could. Everything else that was not determination to complete what she had set out to do was locked in the iron shackles of her will. _This is who I am!_ _Commander_ _Shepard, not some weak-willed, sobbing heap for the Reapers to run over!_ She realized that without Garrus there to offer constant support, encouragement and the occasional kick in the ass, she might have already become that sobbing heap. He was her reason to keep pushing forward and she silently thanked him for that.

Stopping before Wiks, she overheard his conversation with the soldier before him. “Send confirmation to the dalatrass that the exchange is proceeding.”

“Yes, sir.” the soldier answered.

“And ask her for more warning the next time the krogan leader shows up unnannounced.” he grumbled.

“Yes, sir.”

Wiks sighed and smiled at the other salarian. “I wasn't serious. She'll maroon you on Tuchanka with _raw meat_ strapped to your back if you do that.”

“Oh!” it was almost a gasp of shock that jolted out of the soldier's throat.

“Then she'll report the thresher maws eating you as a warning to anyone else who challenges her.” Wiks elaborated.

Shepard hid the smile that slid across her lips at the way the soldier cringed. She could see that Wiks was enjoying intimidating the male. It was something she had done to some of her former Cerberus crew a time or two.

When Wiks sent the soldier running, he glanced toward her. “You have clearance now to see the females, Commander. I hope we can resolve this matter without reenacting the Krogan Rebellions.”

Shepard followed his gaze as he turned his head to glance at Wrex. “You must have some opinion. What do you think about all this?”

“I differ from most of my colleagues. Curing the genophage will bring closure to this issue.” he reached up and scratched at the scales on the side of his head thoughtfully. “In the future, the krogan may yet play some role we can't even imagine. We should let the evolutionary process decide who lives and dies, not galactic politics.”

“Good point. I can see why you're in charge of this exchange.” Shepard nodded to him.

Crossing his arms with a smile, he returned her nod. “Proceed to the elevator when you're ready.”

Wasting no time, she headed for that elevator and stopped before it as the retina scanner logged her I.D. Wiks stopped before her the moment the doors slid open. “Now take this elevator down, and someone will...”

A sudden warning klaxon cut him off. Glancing back, Shepard saw the salarians scrambling as an alert droned on about a level two threat. She glanced at Wiks, eyes narrowing and asked quickly. “What's happening?”

The salarian brought up his omni-tool and keyed in a couple of lines before answering. “Sensors have picked up activity on the perimeter. Hurry, Commander. Someone will meet you below.”

With that, he ushered her and her team into the elevator before turning to join the soldiers scrambling to defend the base.

“You think the salarians can handle the trouble up there?” Garrus asked as the elevator shifted beneath them.

“Wrex is up there.” she answered.

“Riiiight. Forget I asked.” the turian snorted.

As the doors opened on a lab, an announcement came across the base comm. “Base personnel must remain on-site until further notice.”

“All specimens are account for, sir.” came the frantic sounding voice of a soldier nearby.

When the male stepped away, Shepard narrowed her eyes at the familiar male standing there. There was no mistaking the elder salarian or his voice when he spoke. “Shepard! Excellent timing. Good to have you here.”

“Mordin?” she asked as he walked toward her and gripped her hand firmly in friendship.

“Eyesight still sharp. Surprise understandable. Hadn't expected to return to work.” Mordin smiled.

“You're back with STG?” Garrus asked.

“Special consultant... Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.” Mordin answered. Then he leaned in with a hand up to his face to shield his words from those around them. “Helped female krogan. Fed information to Clan Urdnot. Encouraged political pressure to free females.”

“You must be Wrex's inside source.” Shepard was only just beginning to realize how deeply entangled in this whole business Mordin must be.

“Yes. Can explain later. Security warnings not normal. Need to get offworld for sake of krogan.” he turned and motioned them to follow him as he continued. “Femals had weakened immune systems. Side effect of Maelon's cure.”

Shepard stayed close on his heels as they came to a containment bay. He stopped and bowed his head, looking in on the covered bodies. “These..” he sucked in a breath. “didn't survive.”

“I thought we saved Maelon's research. What happened?” she tried to keep her voice low.

“Indeed. Data saved, but not complete. Lacks critical details to reconstruct cure, but still useful for synthesizing from living tissue.” he glanced back toward the bodies. “Couldn't save them.”

“I'm sure you did everything you could, Mordin.” Shepard locked eyes with him.

“Arrived too late. _Cannot_ delay now. One survivor. Immune to genophage. Can synthesize cure from her tissue.” with that, he turned from the containment field and headed off across the room.

Shepard stepped quick to keep up. “She's still here?”

“Yes. Last hope for krogan. If she dies, genophage cure.... problematic.” he continued walking and stopped before another containment field with some sort of restraining mech within. The female stood supported within its frame. “Please be careful. Krogan slow to trust.”

Shepard walked forward a couple of paces looking to make eye contact with the krogan. “I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy.”

“Are you here to kill me?” the krogan asked simply.

“Goddess... what she's been through....” Liara gasped as she pulled up biometric readings on her omni-tool.

Garrus leaned in to take a look and visibly cringed at the readings, the word tumbling out of his mouth barely more than a disgusted breath. “Spirits....”

“Urdnot Wrex and I are here to take you home.” Shepard stated after glancing at that readout herself.

“Why? What am I to you?” the female asked.

“Have the salarians been mistreating you?” she asked, avoiding that last question.

“Those were my sisters you saw back there. They died in a lot of pain.” the female growled.

“Did the best we could.” Mordin shook his head, glancing down.

“And now I know I'm the only one left. That makes me dangerous to a lot of people.” the female seemed ready to challenge them. “What about you, Commander Shepard? Why are _you_ here?”

“You're the future of the krogan race. I'm fighting for that.” Shepard gave her the most honest answer she could.

“Then I hope you brought an army.” the female stated as they all heard weapon's fire from above.


	6. Perimeter Breach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and her team are heading up toward the landing pad in an effort to secure the krogan female.

“Alert! Unidentified vessels have breached the perimeter.” came the comm announcement seconds after they heard the weapon's fire and a rumble from above.

The salarians around them started running from one station to the next gathering information. The facility around them was rapidly turning to chaos. Few seemed to remain in one place as they continued to check the status of those specimens contained within.

One scientist peeled away from his station and barked, “Give me an update.”

“Outbound communications have been severed! We're cut off!” a soldier still at his original post reported.

“Secure all data to offsite location.” another soldier growled.

Shepard stepped up to one male who had run toward the console controlling the containment area the living krogan was in. “What's happening?”

“We have multiple ships inbound.” he glanced at her for only an instant before returning his attention to the console before him.

Omni-tool blinking and buzzing, Shepard stepped away from the salarian and opened the link. Wrex's face resolved itself on the small screen. He was looking around with a sneer on his face seconds before he spoke. “Cerberus troops are attacking the base, Shepard. Get the females out of there now!”

“Only one survived, Wrex. It might be safer down here.” she informed him.

“ _What_ ? So the salarians can kill her like the others? No deal. If you still want this alliance, get her out of there!” the krogan growled and shook his head angrily.

Turning back toward the officer looking over the containment controls, she frowned as she closed down the link. “Release the female. We're leaving.”

“I can't. Protocol states during lockdown no specimen – ” the sudden jolt of electricity that burst through the male was enough to draw Shepard's attention to the source with a sharp jerk of her head.

“Objection noted.” Mordin said a little too calmly as he held his omni-tool just behind the male's head. “Now please release krogan.”

Shepard had almost forgotten the scientist was a skilled tech. She watched as the other male keyed the door open. It was not necessarily the kind of approach she might have taken, but she had to admit, it was effective.

“Need to monitor pod as it clears quarantine procedures.” Mordin said as he entered the containment lift and turned to look at her. “Meet us at next checkpoint, Shepard. Likely Cerberus opposes genophage cure.”

Shepard nodded and stepped in closer to the lift to make eye contact with the female in the pod. “You'll see Tuchanka again. I promise.”

“Get to elevator, Shepard.” Mordin snapped at her as the lift began to move upwards.

As she moved away from Mordin's lift, she found a couple of items her team could use. Tossing a few clips to Liara, she nodded and passed Garrus a couple of actual grenades with a smile and a raised brow. She stumbled on a console with a sizzling log still running and touched a couple of keys. Mordin's voice crackled out of it. He mentioned the females and Maelon's barbaric experiments. The thing that shocked her the most was his tone when he claimed 'no more... no more dead.'

“You think he's planning some kind of reclamation?” Garrus asked quietly, standing beside her.

“Maybe... He sounded pretty upset by the deaths of those females.” Shepard admitted and moved off from the console.

As they approached the elevator, a salarian poking at the console near it grumbled. “Something's wrong with it. It's not responding.”  
A few seconds later, the doors finally slid open and they each saw the device sitting in the middle of the floor.

“Uh... crap...!” Garrus growled as he grabbed Shepard and launched himself to the side. He practically slammed her bodily against the wall, locking her there with his own body. His gloved hands dug into the metal plating of the wall on either side of her to ensure they both stayed in place.

“Bomb!” Liara's yell was frantic as she dove in the opposite direction.

It blew an instant later, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. Garrus had ducked his head as far into the cowl of his armor as he could and pressed his plated brow against Shepard's forehead for added protection. She saw sparks fly off his side as some of that debris clipped him.

The moment the debris settled, he released his hold on the wall and allowed her to move. The right side of his armor bore a multitude of new scrapes and scuffs. There was no doubt it would need a new paint job, but at least that was the worst of the damage.

“You alright?” he asked softly as he moved with her away from the wall.

Nodding, she swallowed hard and looked up into his concerned eyes. Her voice was a whisper meant for his ears only. “I love you...”

Garrus nodded and started to step away from her when she ran her hand along his scarred mandible and dropped it to grip his shoulder briefly. A second later, she stepped away and headed for the salarian coming up the stairs. The one at the elevator control had been too close to the blast.

“Is there another way out of here?” she asked tiredly.

“Other side of the lab. An emergency exit. I can open it from here.” the scientist said as he jogged toward another console and opened his omni-tool over it.

The commander looked around for a second and found Liara climbing to her feet not far away. She went to the asari and helped her up, taking note of the scratch across her forehead and the trickle of purple blood dribbling from it. As she checked it, the blue woman protested. “I'll be fine, Shepard. We need to go.”

“Shepard, Cerberus forces trying to locate female.” Mordin's voice came over her comm the instant she headed for the indicated exit. “Quarantine checkpoint under attack. Hurry!”

She passed through the door and was faced with a ladder. Looking up, she realized the climb up was only one floor. The emergency exits must zigzag around the base. The moment her gloved hand rasped against the first rung of the ladder, another voice came over her comm.

“Shepard, it's Wrex. I took the shuttle! Do whatever it takes to get the female up to the landing pad! I'll try to make life miserable for Cerberus!”

The second the doors opened, something exploded nearby. Most of the view they had admired earlier was obscured by black smoke and flames. They heard automatic weapon's fire, but could not pinpoint its exact location.

“This looks worse than I thought.” Garrus said as he swung out the door behind her.

“Taking enemy fire from position Telsec-Four!” a salarian soldier called out to his squad as they rounded a corner.

“Direct reinforcements to that location and confirm.” another barked.

The second they drew closer, a smoke bomb went off. Shepard could hear the Cerberus troops landing and signaled her team to take up defensive positions. Muttering under her breath, she took careful aim at the billowing smoke. “Show time.”

Tracking their movement with sound more than sight, she fired off a shockwave into the plumb of smoke. She heard at least two men scream as they were thrown over the railing. Neither of them had time to fire their jet packs before hitting the terrace below. The last one Garrus took out with a clean shot from his sniper rifle.

“Scoped and dropped!” he snarked, the scope on his rifle glowing faintly red.

Shepard smiled at him as she realized he must be using an infrared augmentation on the scope to read the troopers' body heat. She shook her head, both at his enthusiasm and the fact that she had not thought of the infrared scope herself.

“More incoming!” Liara yelled from her forward position.

“All squads, be advised we're encountering resistance from non-salarian hostiles.” they heard the broadcast from a nearby trooper's open comm.

“Don't let them take cover in the lab!” Shepard shouted as she ran forward and threw out a singularity, hoping to catch any Cerberus troops in her path.

Sliding into a crouch behind a planter, she peeked around it and nearly took a rifle butt to the face. Hand out, she caught the man in a lift and threw him over the railing. Another of his team was aiming at her as she ducked back into cover.

“Firing concussive shot!” Garrus barked bare seconds before a thumping shot sounded from his rifle's lower barrel.

Shepard heard the troopers gasp a heartbeat later as they were pinged by the biotic charged heat syncs. They exploded bare seconds after striking their targets. Pieces of the troopers rained down before her. She heard one screaming as she stood and stepped into the dissipating cloud of smoke. He was resting against the railing, both legs gone below the knees. She might have left him like that if he had not still been capable of firing a gun.

Omni-blade slipping free of its sheath, she stepped over what might once have been his lower legs. With one fluid move, she dropped to one knee and thrust the blade into the flex-mesh protecting the hollow of his throat. His screams became a deep gargling sound before he went completely silent. Yanking the blade free, she wiped it on the relatively clean flex-mesh covering his right elbow.


	7. Mounting Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entire team is beginning to realize that someone tipped Cerberus off.

Garrus gripped the cowl of his armor with one hand and rolled his neck uncomfortably as he watched Shepard dispatch the last Cerberus trooper on their level. His neck was always sore since his missile sandwich, but some days it was downright aggravating. This was one of those days. Seeing his bondmate sever someone's spine like that had sent a cramp twinging through the damaged joints of his neck.

The moment their level was clear, he levered himself up to his feet using the rifle as a sort of cane. His augmented hearing picked up something faint up ahead and to the right. Too late, he saw the slender feminine form detach itself from a column and make a hard run for the commander.

“Shepard!” Garrus shouted, slinging his rifle across his back. He refused to risk hitting his bondmate should he somehow miss the shot. Stepping into a dead run at the Cerberus operative, he intended to slam into her and take her over the railing with him if he must.

The commander deflected the sword neither of them had seen with her wrist bracers a couple of times as the operative drove her toward the railing. Just as Garrus was nearly within reach, the assassin took a swing with her sword and connected, driving the woman against the railing. The turian made a grab for them and missed as the assassin dragged Shepard over the edge with her.

“Goddess! No!” Liara cried as the operative and the commander disappeared over the railing.

Breath catching painfully in his chest, Garrus thought his knees had just turned to so much jelly. He heard a shockwave go off and silence followed. He stood frozen to the spot for several long moments.

“Guys.....” came a faint call. “Someone wanna pull me up?”

“Uh.... _spirits_!” Garrus gasped as if an iron fist had just been driven into his gut and he ran for the railing. Looking over, he saw her dangling there by a cluster of vines hanging over from the planter beside him.

Reaching over the railing, he grabbed a fistful of vines and began hauling her up. The second he had her back on solid flooring, she was locked into his arms. Somehow he knew one day their luck was going to run out. He prayed that did not happen until long after the war was over. He thought he might willingly trade all his combat and tech skills for the chance to grow old with her.

“Shepard...” her name was the 'I love you' he was still unable to put into words, the emotions surging through him so much more intense than those simple words could ever describe.

“I know...” she said as his hands cupped the sides of her face and his brow met hers.

“We have to go. The krogan female is still in danger. She can't last long with this kind of an attack.” Liara brought them both back to the here and now.

“Right. We need to find a way up to the landing pad.” Shepard said and glanced up into his eyes once more before moving away from him.

Garrus took a steadying breath and followed her with a nod at Liara. The asari's expression softened a fraction as she returned the nod and ran after their commander. This was shaping up to be so much more than a simple retrieval mission.

“Shepard, Cerberus in vicinity! Hurry!” came Mordin's voice loud and clear over Shepard's open comm.

“We're on the way, Mordin. Do what you have to do to keep her safe.” Shepard answered.

The moment they came to another door, Shepard bypassed the lock and it slid open. They heard the yahg before they saw it as it burst through the wall at the two Cerberus operatives standing guard. It snarled and killed them both before running off around the corner.

“Careful... There goes the next Shadow Broker.” Shepard joked with a faint laugh.

Garrus smiled and could not resist the snarky comment about to burst forth. “Could have sworn he was muttering 'T'Soni' the whole time.”

“Not funny.” Liara growled at him.

It was clear they were not getting past the stream of fire jetting out from the burst pipe in the wall. He stepped toward the low wall and drew Shepard's attention to it. She went over first, landing solidly on the cracked walkway beyond. He followed her a few seconds later. The asari brought up the rear.

The turian's heart skipped the second the commander took a running leap over the gaping hole in their side of the walkway. Liara followed Shepard, landing lightly on the other side. The edge of the hole still crumbled a bit more. Pieces dropping to the level below as he muttered something under his breath he knew no one's translator would be able to decipher. Taking a deep breath, he jumped over the hole himself and landed awkwardly. Shepard's iron grip on his armored cowl was the only thing keeping him from falling through that hole.

They bypassed the flames by several feet when they went over the low wall again on the other side. Rather than coming to a ladder this time, they reached a flight of stairs. Taking them two at a time, they managed to reach the next level in seconds.

“Shepard, Cerberus troops at checkpoint. Attempting to kill krogan. Need assistance!” came Mordin's voice the second they topped the stairs.

There were salarian screams from their floor as black smoke rolled their way. Shepard rolled for cover, firing her pistol into that smoke. “Light 'em up!”

Garrus dropped behind one of the many planters the salarians seemed to favor and leveled his rifle on its edge. Peering through the infrared scope, he picked out several heat signatures. Aiming for the head of one human. A sense of satisfaction settled over him when the trooper's head exploded like a melon and his body dropped.

“One less to worry about.” the turian growled as he took aim at his next target. This one was moving, running for cover, but that did not save him from the sniper's near perfect aim.

Shepard moved and threw out a shockwave before firing her pistol at those it had unbalanced. Garrus moved up behind her and took one man squarely in the chest. Liara tossed a singularity out at a few more closer to their destination.

“I see the checkpoint! They're under fire!” Garrus called as he headed up past the commander.

“Technician dead. Need clearance through checkpoint.” Mordin said as the last man went down.

“I'm on it!” Garrus barked and headed toward the console, checking his path to be sure it was clear.

“Are you ok, Mordin?” Shepard asked the salarian as she came to a stop near the console.

“Containment shield is holding. Will try to repair if necessary. Can't speak for krogan's health, however.” Mordin answered.

“I'm fine, Commander.” the female stated as her head swiveled around to make eye contact with the team.

“Females kept secret. Possibly a mole in STG. Could be indoctrinated.” Mordin stated. “If no krogan alliance with turians, Reapers left unchallenged.”

“We'll do more than challenge them.” Shepard growled before meeting the salarian's eyes again. “I think we need to have a word with the dalatrass over this obvious tip-off...”

“Clear.” Garrus said after one final keystroke and stepped away from the console. He watched the lift begin to move upward again and glanced at the commander. “You don't really think the dalatrass had something to do with Cerberus showing up, do you?”

“I dunno... It's too convenient. How else could they have known the female was here, or that we'd be here attempting to take her back to Tuchanka?” Shepard shook her head.

“Valid point. Hate to think dalatrass may be indoctrinated.” Mordin grumbled as the lift slowly edged upward. He pointed upward then. “Meet us at next checkpoint. Cerberus likely to target – ”

Mordin's words were cut short by the inward explosion of the side of the lift. He dropped to his knees, shielding his face as troops began to fire at him and the krogan. They saw him climb to his feet and hit the controls once more.

“Hurry! Next checkpoint!” the salarian yelled.


	8. A Near Miss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus dives into the fray hoping to protect Shepard.

Shepard and her team had already taking up defensive positions and were aiming at the troopers firing from the shuttle. They heard the triumphant call of one of the troopers. “I have the krogan in sight. She's in transit. Head up to the next level.”

At distance, Shepard took one man cleanly between the eyes with her pistol before slinging out a warp at the other. Garrus puffed up in pride at the clear increase in her targeting skills. All the competitive firing range drills he had run her through were really paying off.

The shuttle pilot closed the hatch in panic and took off away from the site as they began moving toward the whole that had been blown in the wall. They heard a salarian scientist yell as they rounded the corner through the plants on the terrace. He was asking someone where the Normandy was.

“Shepard, get cracking!” Wrex barked over her comm as the kodiak flew by with a Cerberus shuttle hot on its vapor trail. “I'll try to draw some of their fire!”

Garrus ducked down behind a low wall the second Shepard took aim just over his shoulder. The instant he was clear of her shot, she fired on the trooper who was about to come over that wall. The man fell forward over him and the turian pushed the limp body off himself as he scrambled to his feet. He had not realized the trooper was that close.

“Shepard, last attack compromised security systems! Attempting to compensate!” Mordin was beginning to sound a little frayed around the edges.

“We're trying to get to you, Mordin. Do what you can.” Shepard said as she and the team moved into the main area of their current level. She slung out a shockwave as more troops landed not far from them. Most of the men went sailing over the rail.

Garrus moved toward the one she missed with his combat knife ready. The man went down with barely a whisper of sound. The turian muttered softly as he stepped over the body. “Never saw me coming.”

The commander keyed open the next door to still more flames, smoke and gunfire. Big sections of the foliage around the facility were burning away in unchecked blazes. They could hear a number of Cerberus troops around the corner.

“Cerberus isn't fooling around.” Garrus said as he knelt and checked over the downed body of a salarian scientist for any signs of life.

“They're capable of anything.” Shepard said flatly as she headed up the next flight of stairs.

The salarian was dead the turian realized as his hand found a gooey green hole through the male's left temple. He gently closed the alien's eyes and stood, following Shepard up the stairs.

Two more flights of stairs and they came across a salarian making short work of a Cerberus trooper. Garrus recognized the male almost instantly as the salarian pressed himself against the wall.

“Commander, stay back! Hostiles just down the hall.” Kirrahe growled as he peeked around the corner.

“Is there an easier way around?” Shepard asked him.

Kirrahe popped the heat sync on his pistol with a smile. “You could say that.”

The salarian danced out of cover, aimed and fired his odd pistol at several of the troopers. Small disks shot out from it and attached to each of them, magnetically locking to their armor. A few seconds later, those disks began to explode.

Garrus' eyes widened in envy and he breathed his next words jealously. “How do _I_ _not_ have one of those?”

Shepard glanced back at him with a smile. “Ask Kirrahe. Maybe he's got a spare.”

“Go, Commander! I'll cover you!” Kirrahe shouted as a trooper carrying a gun turret came running in.

Shepard rolled to the other side of the walkway and Garrus took her position. Glancing around the corner, he ducked back, eyes closing at the sudden weapon's fire that chipped away at the cement before him. “Looks like Cerberus got some upgrades.”

“Upgrades or not, it won't do them any good.” Shepard growled and slung out a shockwave that proved completely ineffective.

“Maybe try to flank them instead.” Garrus called to her even as he saw Liara take the very risk he was suggesting.

The asari ran around a column and pinned her back against it, inching around some of those troopers. Without a second thought, he swapped out his rifle for a pistol and followed her. Providing cover fire, he signaled Shepard to follow him. Return fire whizzed past him, but he ignored it as it pinged off his armor.

Garrus was not sure if it was Shepard or Liara who threw out the singularity, but it did the trick. It sucked the air from their lungs and the troops ceased fire. He was moving, heading toward the next checkpoint when he felt the pinch and sting in his shoulder. Ignoring it, he growled. “I'm sure Cerberus isn't done. We need to get to the next checkpoint. Mordin was right. They must have been tipped off. They got here too fast.”

“Every war has its traitors.” Liara commented from behind him.

The next door opened to a grisly scene. A varren leaping on the back of a trooper and tearing him apart as he fell. One of the others took the varren out and Shepard took him out with a pistol shot. It was pure chaos.

“Looks like they mean business!” Garrus shouted as another trooper fired at him and narrowly missed.

Liara let out a cry as her forearm was grazed. Shepard glanced back at them as she hopped from one foot to the other heading for the half destroyed stairs leading up. She shouted, “Find cover!”

“Shepard! Take the high ground!” Garrus called to her as he shifted out of cover to fire his pistol at the Centurions headed their way.

“Right! Heading up top!” she took those stairs two at a time and disappeared from his sight.

_Safe, she's safe for now. Doesn't need to see what I'm about to do. Could go sideways fast._ He meant to take as many of those Centurions out as he could with his rifle. That slot in their shields was a perfect target. The trouble was, they had gotten smart to that ploy. Those slots were filled with bulletproof glass now. The bullets barely scratched them as he let loose a couple of rounds at them.

“Crap...!” Garrus grumbled and slung his rifle onto his back.

“What are you doing, Garrus?” Liara snapped at him as she threw out a shockwave that barely unbalanced the Centurions.

“What needs done.” he growled back as he took off his gloves and pulled his combat knife from the sheath hidden in his thigh bracer.

“Garrus!” Liara called to him again.

“Go with Shepard!” he locked eyes with her for a moment, his voice dropping to something closer to a whipser. “Keep her safe....”

Before she could stop him, he ran toward the Centurions and jumped over one of the planters. He was in the middle of them before she had the chance to shout his name. The turian knew she would not risk his life by tossing her biotics around among them then. He heard her feet running up those stairs even as he grabbed the edge of one of the Centurion's shields.

“Bring it on, you Cerberus _bastards!_ The gloves are _off!_ ” Garrus growled as he pushed every bit of the strength he had into ramming that shield into its owner's helmet.

That helmet dented in with the impact and the Centurion went down, losing his grip on the shield. Garrus put the shield between himself and the other two long enough to bring the edge down sharply on its owner's throat. Even as the snapping of the man's neck registered, he had already rammed the shield into one of the others coming toward him. They were firing at him rarely now. He unbalanced one of them, pulled the shield from his grasp and pried his helmet loose with his bare hands. The moment his throat was exposed, he drew his combat knife across the flesh with a quick stroke from behind. As the man drown in his own blood, he thrust him at the last one standing.

This one, he knew, would be harder to deal with. There would be no distraction from the other two. He tried coming in low to tackle the man and ended up on the floor himself. He rolled away from a stomping foot, one hip cracking painfully as he rolled up to his feet nearly a yard away from the Centurion.

“Garrus!” he heard Shepard call as she dropped down from the ruined ceiling across the room.

“Crap.....” he gasped as the blade he had not seen slipped into his unprotected armpit. His talons wrapped around the wrist of the hand holding that knife and drew him closer. He growled at the man as he sank the talons of his other hand into the man's throat. “If I'm gonna die here, I'm taking you with me!”


	9. The Final Checkpoint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they made their way to the final checkpoint, Shepard was growing more concerned about the condition of her turian.

Shepard heard the sounds of hand-to-hand combat below as she circled around the area looking for an exit or a good vantage point. When Liara topped the stairs, she knew exactly who was engaged in the grunting, scuffing and growling she heard below. _God, if he lives through this, I'm gonna kill him!_ She had lost track of how many times her idiot bondmate had run off into the middle of a fight. He had done it when they were driving the SR-1 hard around the galaxy as well. She had been forced to pull his ass out of the fire then and would continue to do so as long as there was breath in her lungs.

The moment she got a clear view of the fighting, she saw the flash of steel slam into his left armpit. There were no plates in that region of a turian's body. Muscle, sinew and bone, that was what that knife was carving into. If the blade twisted just right, it might slip between his ribs and pierce his lung.

“Garrus!” she called out, an angry tone in her voice as she dropped to the lower level from the ruins of the floor above.

The turian grunted when the Centurion yanked the blade free of his flesh. The human turned, readying himself for Shepard's approach. Garrus took advantage of the distraction and grabbed the man's head. Digging his talons into the metal of the helmet with a sound akin to nails on a chalkboard, he gave it a sharp twist. Human vertebrae snapped loudly in the sudden silence just before the man dropped from the turian's grasp.

Garrus barely maintained his feet as Shepard made her way to him. His right arm wrapped around her shoulders as she pressed a hand to his bleeding chest. He swayed, blinking slowly and Shepard was certain he was about to black out.

“Liara! Get down here!” Shepard yelled as she guided him toward the planter he had jumped over. She locked eyes with him and gave him a direct order then and there. “Sit and don't say a word.”

“Goddess...” Liara gasped as she came down the stairs and saw the state he was in.

“ _Dammit!_ ” Shepard snarled viciously as she checked the pouches she kept medi-gel in and came up empty.

“Here..” Liara held a packet out to her. “I always keep spares.”

“Thanks.” Shepard said, her eyes returning to those of her bondmate. “This will hold until we get you back to the Normandy.”

Garrus nodded, his eyes focusing on her and her only. She knew he was in trouble. The knife wound was too shallow to cause the kind of drain he was suffering. Looking over the flex-mesh of his armor, she noticed a small hole about a hand's width above the knife wound. The edges were clearly melted.

“When did this happen?” she growled at him.

“Hmm... right before the varren ate the Cerberus trooper.....” he hissed in pain as she dug a finger into the hole feeling around for the slug.

“It's too deep, I can't feel it.” the second she withdrew her finger, she hit him with a healthy does of the medi-gel Liara had handed her. “No more heroics, is that understood, Vakarian?”

“Yes, ma'am....” he mumbled and glanced down at the dead Centurions scattered around them.

“You good? Can you continue?” she asked him.

“Do I have a choice?” he grumbled as he staggered to his feet.

“No.” she answered.

“Then I'm good. We've got a krogan to secure.” Garrus took a faltering step forward, swayed and continued.

Shepard nodded and kept an eye on him as she and Liara moved off around him. She signaled Liara to bring up the rear. If he collapsed, she meant to know it. She would drag him to the shuttle if she had to, but there was no way she was leaving him behind.

“Elevator malfunctioning, Shepard. Need assistance!” came Mordin's garbled voice.

“We're close. Sit tight.” she said as she found a ladder down into the next lab level.

“I thought we were supposed to be going up.” Garrus grumbled as Liara herded him toward the ladder.

“We are, but that was some sort of arboretum.” Shepard said as she watched him grab the ladder and slide down it. He seemed stable, for the moment.

Rounding a corner, she found a locked door in their way. The bypass took more time than she wanted to waste, but it opened. As they entered the checkpoint, a shot zipped past Shepard's ear and she ducked behind a support beam.

“ _Take them out!_ Get them _away_ from the female!” she snapped even as she took down one with her pistol and another with a warp.

Shepard's eyes snapped toward Garrus as he made his way toward a console with a big red exclamation point circled in the center of the screen. The turian looked around to make sure he was safe to fiddle with it before checking the readings.

“Power's been cut. Has to be the reason the elevator is malfunctioning.” he said as he keyed in several lines of hacker code. When nothing happened he thumped the keyboard. “There's gotta be a power conduit nearby. This thing is useless without it.”

Shepard nodded and locked eyes with him. He looked tired, but alert. “Stay put. Liara and I will find it.”

Liara went one direction and Shepard the other. It was Shepard who found the disengaged power cell. She twisted the handle and pushed it back into place to the sound of power returning to the terminals on that level.

“That did it, Shepard.” Garrus called out to her. “Wait.... _Dammit_ , there's another Cerberus squad heading toward the checkpoint.”

Shepard stepped into a hard run toward her bondmate and would have dragged him into cover with her if he had not already dropped beside the console. The rifle in his hands shook faintly as he took aim at one of the troopers. His rifle never shook.

“Scratch one....” he growled as he dropped one of the troopers before the man could toss the smoke bomb.

Slinging out a singularity, she took a few shots with her pistol. She realized that, even wounded, Garrus still had near perfect aim. He might be in mortal danger if that accuracy ever slipped under such circumstances.

“Keep up the pressure!” Shepard yelled as she took two more men down.

“Spirits.... more Centurions...” Garrus said breathlessly as two more of the shield toting shocktoopers stepped out into the open.

“Not this time, Garrus!” Shepard snapped at him and hit them with a combination of shockwave and slams.

Garrus stared at her, mandibles low in shock. She could see the question in his eyes: when had she learned that particular skill? Raising a brow at him and giving him a crooked smile, she simply kept blasting troops. It was wearing her down, however. She relied on her pistol more and more as they went along.

“Affinity for destruction intact, Shepard. Can clear us through now.” Mordin's brand of snark drew a snicker out of her as the last man fell.

“How you holdin' up?” Shepard asked as she and her team made their way to the checkpoint console. She glanced at Garrus as he went to work on it, being the only 'tech' currently on the team.

“Containment shield strong, but not meant for direct fire.” Mordin answered.

“This isn't your problem, Commander. You don't _know_ me.” the female krogan said stoicly.

“No, but I'd like to. Just hang in there. We're almost through this.” Shepard said, making eye contact with the krogan woman again. She had to keep this female calm, convince her she was going to make it out of this mess. “How many more checkpoints, Moridn?”

“Just the landing area. Hope Urdnot Wrex still waiting.” Mordin answered calmly.

“Wrex can't keep his hands off a fertile female. He'll be there.” the krogan said.

“I'll see you up top.” Shepard said as she touched Garrus' right shoulder the moment his hands left the keyboard.

“Incoming!” Liara yelled as more troops came swarming in out of nowhere.

“Get down!” Shepard growled softly at her bondmate as she tossed out a shockwave. The biotics were really beginning to drain her now. The fighting had gone on too long.

When Liara took up the slack, she silently thanked the asari. It left her to use weapons in place of waning biotic power. Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she fired several random shots of her pistol at the troops and ducked back down with Garrus behind the console.

“You're bleeding, sweetie...” the turian's voice was soft and the flesh of his neck was decidedly pale.

“So are you, lover. I just can't see where.” Shepard dropped one more guy and locked eyes with Garrus briefly. “Can you keep moving?”

“As long as I need to.” he grumbled.

“That was the last of them.” Liara called as she came jogging back toward them.

“Let's get the hell outa here.” Shepard growled as she stood and hauled Garrus to his feet.

“Shepard, get your ass up here! I can't fly around forever!” Wrex snapped over her open comm.

“The female's on the way up to the landing area.” she informed him as she moved off toward the nearest exit to that level.

“You pull this off, and I'm making you an honorary krogan.” Wrex stated. He sounded serious.

Opening the last door, they came to another gaping hole in the floor. Shepard went first and indicated that Garrus should follow. She wanted Liara behind him in case he toppled over. The asari could grab him with her biotics, if nothing else.

“We're almost back up top.” Shepard told Wrex as she crossed over to the ladder.

The moment they reached the top, the resistance was maybe triple what they had already come through. Men scrambled everywhere. A few of the salarians still fought Cerberus, all STG. It was brutal.

Exhausted as she was, Shepard relied almost entirely on her weapons now. Liara had held most of her biotic attacks in reserve for this scenario. Now the asari took center stage and tossed men around with her biotics like rag dolls. The commander fired off pistol shots periodically and her turian bondmate fired his unique concussive rounds from time to time.

The moment it was clear, she hauled Garrus to his feet and half supported him toward the checkpoint console. They needed final approval to release the female. All of the salarians were gone. Without the turian, they were not getting the female to the shuttle.

“Can you do this?” she asked him.

Garrus nodded, leaning on the console as he looked it over. “Last checkpoint..... Once they're cleared, Wrex picks us up and we're home free.”

“Pod transfers to loading area once authorized.” Mordin explained.

“Let's get them out of there.” Shepard gripped the armored pad over Garrus' right shoulder briefly.

As he keyed in the codes, the pod shifted toward the ceiling and a giant clamp raced toward it from the other side of the room. The clamp secured around the pod and began to move it.

Wrex's voice came frantically over her open comm link. “Shepard, heads up! You've got incoming!”

“Nothing's ever easy.” Shepard grumbled and looked for the best cover. She realized they were all looking up, trying to see whatever it was that Wrex was warning them about.

“Oh...crap...!” Garrus breathed as he apparently saw what was coming first.


	10. Just Dropping In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Atlas drops in uninvited as the team attempts to release the female krogan from the quarantine pod.

The mech hit the cement hard enough to leave giant trenches beneath its feet. The chunks of cement that were not compressed, were tossed into the air around it. The pilot wasted no time in recovering from the drop as he raised the thing up to its full height and began tracking them.

“Time to move...” Garrus snapped as he backed up a couple of steps and turned to dive behind a column. Liara threw herself in the opposite direction.

Shepard was still running when the missile launched at her. She went over a planter and skidded to a halt against another as the missile struck her last location and blew a big chunk of the console to pieces. Garrus tried not to sag in relief when he saw her shift and sidle around deeper into cover.

“Shepard, I can't land until you deal with that thing! It's too dangerous!” Wrex growled.

“You think?” Shepard snapped back at him.

“You have all the fun!” the krogan laughed.

“Atlas to base: krogan has been acquired.” the pilot broadcast his comm link.

“Door is damaged! Can't get out!” Mordin yelled frantically trying to release the door.

“Stay clear! I've got this....” Shepard barked as she peeked out of cover to check the atlas' position.

“ _Dammit!_ ” Garrus growled as he checked his ammo and heat syncs. Not enough ammo by even a third to deal with that thing and he knew it.

The turian honestly considered rushing the thing from behind and climbing it to cut critical wiring. He tossed the idea out when he realized his shoulder was not going to cooperate. His left hand was tingling and going numb. He could feel blood squishing in his glove when he doubled his fist. The medi-gel was only meant to hold until proper treatment could be administered. He was well past that point now. Continuing to consider his options, he remembered the grenades Shepard had passed to him when this all first started. If he charged them biotically, they might just make one giant boom the equivalent to a small bomb. It was something he had never tried. The largest object he had charged was a heat sync.

Glancing around at Shepard dodging the mech's fire and trying to do damage to it with conventional weapons, he realized it was the only shot they had. He palmed them one at a time, three told, and trickled what little he had into them. It was much more draining than he remembered the heat syncs being.

Once it was done, he bolted from cover. He looked to Shepard when she frowned at him and nodded, holding the blue glowing grenades up. “That's some serious firepower. Maybe we can crack it open.”

Shepard shook her head at him and he nodded with a widening of his mandibles. She had to know he was going to do it anyway. Just as he had to know she was going to tear his mandibles off and feed them to him. He would deal with that later, however. If there was a later.

Getting in as close as he dared, he threw the grenades and ducked down behind a low wall. The explosion shook the whole facility. The heavy thump of the mech hitting the floor was sweet music to his ears.

Peeking up at the wreckage when the dust settled, he smiled. “So worth it.”

Shepard was walking toward the landing area as the shuttle finally landed. Wrex hopped out and cocked his shotgun before heading toward her. Garrus almost thought he was about to become trouble.

“You had me worried there for a minute.” Wrex said as he clasped Shepard's hand in a congratulatory handshake.

“Let's make this quick.” Shepard barked as she stepped up to the containment pod.

Mordin had been released from his confinement the moment the pod itself was lowered to the loading area. He walked over to the female krogan and offered his hand to help her out. Wrex pushed him out of the way and offered his own. Garrus chuckled at the display.

“Let's get you out of there.” Wrex said smoothly.

Garrus snorted when the female ignored his hand and glared at him on her way down the ramp. He heard the Cerberus troopers before he saw them. The female must have seen them first as she grabbed Wrex's shotgun and fired off two perfect rounds into them. The moment she was sure they were down, she thrust the shotgun at Wrex and walked away.

“I can handle myself, Wrex.” she growled at him.

“Women.” Wrex grumbled.

One of the troopers was not quite dead and Garrus watched Shepard stomp over to him. As she couched next to him, she demanded answers. “Why is Cerberus here? What do you want?”

The trooper grunted, gasping, but Garrus was sure of what he heard as he closed in on the two of them. He glanced at Shepard when she rose to her feet after the man gasped out his last breath.

“Did.... I hear him right?” Garrus asked quietly.

“Linron. The dalatrass tipped them off.” Shepard growled, her face becoming a thunderous frown.

“Stop wasting time, Shepard. Let's go!” Wrex called from the shuttle.

Garrus stumbled toward the shuttle as his sight began to blur. He blinked a few times, but it did not help. When he staggered into the remains of the checkpoint console Shepard was at his side. She threw his right arm over her shoulder and started to half drag him toward the shuttle. He saw Wrex heading their way then, concern etching into his face.

“What happened to him?” the krogan asked.

“Trying to be a hero.” Shepard answered irritably.

“Alright, come on, kid. Let's get you back to the Normandy.” Wrex grumbled at him as he slung the other arm over his hump.

Garrus realized it was probably a good thing he could no longer feel that arm. He might be in screaming pain otherwise. Between the two of them, they hauled him into the shuttle quickly. He was settled into a seat and strapped in within minutes. Wrex moved off toward the cockpit and they lifted off.

The turian realized he must have nodded off when he felt himself being lifted from the seat. Some part of his mind realized he was barely conscious when he heard Chakwas yelling at someone to get him to the med bay, STAT. _This is bad. It's not the knife wound, is it? It's that damn bullet wound. Went deeper than I thought. Must have clipped something vital._ That was his last coherent thought as he saw fuzzy lights flashing by overhead.


	11. The Luck of the Draw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard knew their luck was going to run out one day, but today was not that day.

Shepard did not remember sitting down in the chair near the turian's cot. She did not remember resting her head on her arms on the edge of it. Nor did she remember nodding off. What she did remember was nine long hours of waiting. Nine hours of surgery to remove the slug from his chest and repair the damage done by both the gunshot and the knife. The waiting had been so much worse than it had been after Omega. She had loved him then, but had not yet realized the depth of what she felt for him. He was her bondmate now. She knew him nearly as well as she knew herself. He had let her in, allowed her to taste the depths of the affection he held for her. Without him in it, the galaxy could go straight to hell as far as she was concerned.

She woke with a start when his talons brushed through her loose hair. Lifting her head, she locked eyes with him and reached for his hand. His nose plates bunched up when he shifted his head slightly on the pillow beneath his fringe. Eyes barely slitted, he looked her face over critically. He was propped into a semi-reclined position on the turian designed cot. She knew his neck had been bothering him this morning and realized it must still be sore as he shifted again.

Garrus let out a breath, still clearly coming up from the anesthesia. He blinked hard as his eyes focused a little sharper on her. Recognition settled over his face and his mandibles flared slightly. His words were a hoarse whisper, slurred from the effects of the drugs when they came. They were nearly overpowered by his sub-harmonics. “Hey,...... beautiful...”

“Hey... How you feelin'?” Shepard asked softly as she smoothed the suede skin across the back of his hand with her thumb.

“Hmmm...” he hummed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Like I was.... hit by a Mako...”

“Good,.... remember how that feels.” Shepard said sharply even though her voice was still very quiet. The sharpness dulled as she transferred from the chair to the edge of the cot to cup his cheek and mandible in her hand. “You're about the only thing I've got left worth fighting for, Garrus,.... so don't you dare keep acting like a hero...”

The turian locked eyes with her, his focus coming and going as he continued to swim through heavy medication. “I... uh.... hmmm... I'll think about it.”

“Heroes die, Garrus. You know the odds. Sooner or later some _one_ or some _thing_ kills the hero. Play it just a little safer,..... for me.” Shepard was determined he take her request to heart. Somehow she knew there might come a moment when she was forced to order him to stand down in his instinctive defense of her. She did not look forward to that day. “I'll be back later to check on you.”

“I'll be here.......” Garrus breathed and it was clear he was not going anywhere as the meds took him under again.

Chakwas was keeping him heavily dosed with a cocktail of medication and medi-gel to accelerate the healing process. At Mordin's suggested she had put the turian under one of the regeneraters for a couple of hours. It could be draining on the patient, but the benefits far outweighed any adverse side effects. The doctor had told Shepard that he would be up and fit for duty in a day or two rather than weeks. She meant for him to stay in the med bay over night to be sure the regeneration was taking. Then he would be allowed to return to their quarters the following morning.

Shepard watched him drift off again before she stood and headed for the door. She needed to report to Hackett soon and get their course set for Tuchanka. There was still so much more to do and it seemed so little time in which to do it. She hated leaving him there like that, but if she did not go now, she never would.

The door swished open and she headed out of it determinedly. The trip to the elevator was quick, the ride up to the CIC even quicker. She hoped his downtime went as quickly. Spending a night alone in their cabin was not going to be her idea of a peaceful night by any means.

“Commander. Admiral Hackett is available on vid comm.” Traynor said as she passed her.

“I know.” Shepard simply stated. He was due to call since she had not given him a report in awhile

Passing through the War Room, she headed into the QEC and touched the tiny console on the railing. The man himself evolved from the glowing blue particles swirling in the air over the vid disk. She never grew tired of watching that initial display of holographic technology.

“Commander, I'm hearing chatter you're brokering a treaty between the krogan and the turians?” the man asked before his image had completely resolved itself.

“That's right. If I get krogan boots on Palaven, the turians promise their support.” she nodded at him.

“And how did Cerberus get involved?” he came right to the point.

“I dunno... had to be a tip-off. The Illusive Man is up to something.” she said and leaned on the railing. She suspected Dalatrass Linron, but there was no way she was going to voice that suspicion to him just now. Proof was what she needed and she meant to find it.

“Then keep them at bay. I can't overstate what a victory this treaty would be for the Alliance.” Hackett paused and brought his hands forward from his parade rest position. “We'll need _all_ the help we can get.”

“How's the Prothean device coming?” Shepard asked, standing just a little taller as she released the railing.

“Alliance R&D has officially begun construction. The team has dubbed it 'Project Crucible.' We're throwing everybody who knows how to hold a hammer at it. This is going to be the most ambitious undertaking in human history.” Hackett explained.

Shepard looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. _Crucible.... I knew, but how?_ Her next question was simple enough, but she knew there were no simple answers. “Will we get it done?”

“I'm not saying it won't be a challenge,... but our researchers tell me the designs are... elegant. Massive in scope, but strangely simple as well.” he stepped back a fraction and locked eyes with her. “We can do this, Shepard. You can do this. _Never_ doubt that.”

Taking a stance of attention, Shepard saluted him. “No, sir.”

“Good...” Hackett seemed to let out a breath at her renewed determination. He returned the salute and nodded. “Hackett out.”

As Shepard stepped back into the War Room, she saw the central display pop up with a diagram of the Crucible and it's percentage of completion. She nodded to herself as she looked it over for a moment. Something about it sent a chill up her spine and she pulled her eyes away from it. Taking a deliberate step away from the image, she headed for the conference room. Her 'delegates' were bound to be there by now.

“You have the female, Wrex. A cure for the rest of your people can come later.” Victus was saying heatedly.

“That wasn't the deal.” Wrex growled back.

“But Palaven needs your reinforcements now. We can't delay.” Victus was almost pleading as Shepard stepped into the room.

“Unless every krogan gets the cure, there's no alliance.” Wrex said simply, uncrossing his arms.  
Victus turned away from the krogan and leaned on the table. He locked eyes with her after a few seconds as Wrex stepped away from the table. This was a problem, but she had already anticipated it. That was why she had asked Mordin to join them in the dalatrass' stead. She trusted him to represent the best interests of the salarian people more than Linron.

“Mordin, how long will it take to finish a cure?” Shepard asked him.

The scientist tapped his lip with one cybernetic finger thoughtfully for a moment. “Need to synthesize base antigen from female. Also requires healthy male krogan tissue. Will need a sample.”

Wrex fanned his hands out as he turned back to face them. “You're lookin' at it.”

Mordin nodded, looking across at the krogan. “Acceptable. Will need you to remain aboard Normandy for procedure.”

“Eh..” he shrugged with a grumble. “Let's hope the food's gotten better.”

“Formulating a cure that works for every krogan sounds like a tall order, Mordin. Can you do it?” Shepard asked feeling just a little skeptical. _Or is that caution? If this doesn't work... it has to. The turians have no alternative_.

“Of course.” Mordin nodded and took a couple of pacing steps. “Similar to genophage modification project. Working against own alterations this time. Not as simple as garbage DNA blocking attachment sites. Will need to counteract shutdown of redundant nervous system, adjust neurotransmitter levels – ”

“Got it.” Shepard stated. She could see where this was going. Once he started, Mordin talked shop for the sheer joy of doing so.

“Will create cure, Shepard. Don't need to worry.” Mordin reassured her.

“Then get started, Mordin, and make it quick.” She suggested.

“Always do. Will be in med bay if you'd like to speak more. Eve requires tests.” Mordin turned and headed for the door.

“Eve?” Shepard questioned before he got out of earshot.

He turned back briefly. “Female's real name unknown. Normandy a human vessel. Human mythology seemed appropriate under circumstances. Suggest speaking with female. New perspective. Surprising in krogan.”

“I'll do that.” Shepard tried gauging his odd smile before nodding to him. He headed down the hall as she turned back toward Victus and Wrex. She was looking at the primarch's back when she asked her next question. “Now, is there anything else?”

“There's a small matter concerning a ship we've lost contact with.” Victus began as he turned to face her.

“What happened?” Shepard asked almost automatically. She was not entirely certain she wanted to hear this. It seemed there were any number of tasks that could be found to require her 'assistance'.

Victus glanced at Wrex before locking his wet sand looking eyes on her. “I'd rather discuss it.. in private.”

“Turian problems can't even come close to what I've got.” Wrex barked.

Shepard crossed her arms knowing full well exactly how much shit Wrex truly was full of. His world was not burning and they all knew it. “What is it?”

“Some of my men went missing. The rest of it we can discuss...” and he made a point of sneering at Victus. “..somewhere else.”

“I'll find you both in the War Room. Just be ready to talk.” Shepard growled and uncrossed her arms. _Eventually, these two idiots are gonna have to work together. Like it or not!_ Shaking her head, she left the room, left them both standing staring after her and did not care what they did with the time on their hands.

Rather than head straight to the War Room, she headed for the med bay instead. She needed to check on Garrus and maybe speak with 'Eve'. The two hardheaded men in the conference room could duke it out for the moment as far as she was concerned. If it would help, she thought she might even arrange for them to spar in the shuttle bay.


	12. Scar Appeal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is hearing a lot of chatter about how female krogan find guys with scars attractive.

“Shepard...” Garrus said as she came into the med bay. He was up and dressed in a mostly dark blue and black outfit with gold trim. His eyes betrayed how tired he felt as he locked them with hers. “...they say female krogan have a thing for guys with scars.”

“So I've heard.” she teased him with a smile.

“I've got a few, myself... here's hoping nobody's planning an arranged marriage to cement this deal.” he said, his mandibles widening a fraction.

Shepard huffed a laugh and ran her fingertip along the underside of his jaw. “Not a chance, lover. You're mine, remember?”

“Like I'd _ever_ want to forget....” his eyes were half lidded as he gazed down at her. Part of his expression was exhaustion, but there was love shining down at her from the depths of those crystal blue eyes as well.

Shepard knew he would fight tooth and talon for her. He would sacrifice himself if it came right down to it. That was what worried her the most. He might get himself killed chasing after her, but there was nowhere else in the whole of the universe she knew he would rather be.

Glancing toward the krogan, she could not help but feel for the woman. “She's been through so much...”

“And now she's her people's last hope. Imagine the pressure.” Garrus nodded. “Takes real courage to face that. I hope we can measure up.”

They both heard Mordin on the far side of the room talking to 'Eve'. He did not seem aware they were even in the room. “Aware female krogan find scars attractive. Garrus loyal, reasonably intelligent. Bit aggressive. Almost like krogan.”

“For the third time, Doctor, _I'm not interested_.” Eve grumbled.

“Good, because he's already spoken for.” Shepard spoke up as she closed on them.

“Bonded? To who? Was not aware..” Mordin seemed to jump at the sound of her voice.

Shepard smiled and tapped the small data tag hanging with her dog tags. She watched his eyes glance between it, her face and Garrus as the turian came over to lean on the exam bed across from them. The salarian seemed to digest the information quickly with a nod. “Congratulations in order then. Relationship stronger than suspected. Happy for you both.”

They all glanced toward the door when it whooshed open as Wrex came strolling in. His eyes locked on the female sitting on the exam bed before them. “Are you ok?”

“I'm fine, Wrex. You can relax.” Eve stated coldly.

“Can't be too careful... or put any faith in salarian doctors.” he grumbled as he came to a stop before the krogan female.

“This one is different.” Eve said, clearly looking at Mordin.

“Is he?” Wrex asked curiously until he saw Mordin lift a syringe from a tray. Then the suspicion kicked into overdrive. “What's that?”

“Simple blood test.” Mordin answered, unphased by the massive krogan towering over him.

“What kind?” Wrex asked.

“Kind that ends the genophage.” Mordin answered simply. The salarian glanced at the commander for help before turning toward the equipment near Garrus. “Shepard, please. Distractions counterproductive. Also affecting comfort of patient.”

“He _was_ your inside source, Wrex. You can trust him.” she reminded the krogan.

“Salarians have minds like a maze. You never know when they're leading you into a trap.” he grumbled.

Shepard glanced at the salarian and saw the sudden tension travel from his shoulders all the way down his back before he turned. An angry expression had pinned itself to his face and he snapped at Wrex. “ _Trap_? Eve's release _my_ doing. Would never have known about her if not for _me_.”

“That was then, but she's out now. If she gets hurt, _I'll_ feel it.” Wrex growled.

“Understand. But _my_ patient. _My_ responsibility. Her welfare a priority. Will not allow her to be compromised by _anyone_.” there was still a growl in Mordin's voice as he turned back toward his work.

Wrex laughed at that and the tension seemed to break a little. “You've got a quad, Doctor. Keep her safe. Our females have endured enough.”

“Don't forget. Still need your tissue sample.” Mordin called over his shoulder before the krogan could escape the room.

“I'll be back.” all the air seemed to gust right out of Wrex's sails over that one.

“Common phobia. Fear of needles.” Mordin breathed.

“Or salarian doctors.” Shepard said softly.

“Now have work to do.” Mordin grumbled with a nod. “Prefer females of the species.”

Shepard glanced at Eve as they both heard the salarian continue to mumble to himself. She moved over toward Garrus when the female glared at the scientist across the room. Garrus heaved a tired sigh and she looked up at him.

“You ok? Should you even be up yet?” she asked with a faint edge to her voice.

“I'm fine, Shepard. Chakwas released me an hour ago. Said I could return to lite duty tomorrow.”

“Uh-huh... that's not what she told me.” she grumbled at him.

“Hmm... well... I... uh.... sort of told her...” he stammered.

Shepard glared up at him, but there was no real anger in the expression. “Let me guess... you told her you feel much better...”

“Something like that.” he nodded and ran a talon delicately along her jawline. “I'd rather not stay here tonight, if it's all the same to you.”

She could not help the smile that curled the corners of her mouth as she glanced over her shoulder at the krogan. When her eyes returned to his, there was clear mischief in them. “What's wrong, Vakarian? Afraid Eve might change her mind?”

Garrus dropped his head toward hers and drew up short with a growl surging through is sub-harmonics. It was loud enough that even Mordin glanced at them. Shepard knew that growl, one part desire and one part indignation at her remark. She also knew they were not going to spar between the sheets until Chakwas allowed him to return to full duty. There was no way she risking tearing those wounds open again.

“I should go..... calibrate something....” he grumbled as his eyes closed and he finally allowed his plated brow to touch her forehead briefly. The turian stepped away from her then and headed for the door.

“Lite duty, Garrus....” she reminded him.

“Yes, dear...” his tone was snarky as the door closed behind him.


	13. Scientific Extrapolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard feels like she's interrogating Mordin about his motives for agreeing to cure the genophage.

“Maybe with an inhibitor? No-no-no-no, entire catalyzing process would fail. Severe neurological damage. Never mind.”

“What are you talking about?” Eve asked quietly.

“Method to extract functioning cure without killing you. Your immune system compromised. Considering options.” he explained.

“And you have to do it out loud?” she asked irritably.

“Yes. Auditory learner. Need to hear self think, simulate conversation to promote new ideas, maximize productivity.” Mordin answered logically.

“But you're talking about _me..._ dying.” Eve complained.

“Oh. Apologies. Medical details causing emotional distress. Hadn't considered affect on patient.” Mordin seemed almost mortified at the idea.

“No, it just means I can't sleep.”

“Doing my best to keep you alive. Will avoid.... sensitive subjects.” Mordin nodded. He glanced at Shepard then. “Blood work indicates significant stress on Eve's system. Maelon's data thorough. Fortunately detailed as well. Have used notes to improve her condition.”

“So we did the right thing by saving the data?” Shepard asked. It was a question she had asked herself a few times since seeing both the bodies in Maelon's 'lab' and those on Sur'Kesh most recently.

“Indeed. Would be much harder to treat Eve without it. Maybe impossible.” Mordin agreed.

“And all those experiments we saw back on Tuchanka?” that was the real question plaguing her; was it worth all the lose of life that had made it possible?

“Monstrous. Repulsive. But now with purpose. Victims didn't die for nothing.” it was a relief to hear he still felt the same sort of anger he had when they had first come across those experiments.

“So the end justifies the means, after all?” Shepard sighed, speaking slowly. Glancing down at the braces supporting the salarian's lower legs, she realized he must be running on stims by this point.

“Not my means.” Mordin said forcefully.

“But you're using the data, encouraging more experiments like Maelon's.” she could not let it go. She knew she needed to.

Mordin leaned on his cybernetic hands on the table he was working on and closed his eyes briefly. “Encouragement irrelevant. Will _always_ be scientists willing to perform unethical experiments. Can't change that. But _can_ help Eve. _Can_ cure genophage. Won't ignore data vital to her survival because of unethical origins.”

“Any word on Maelon himself?” the question was more a courtesy than an actual question. She had made sure Mordin did not suffer the nightmares that would have come if she had allowed him to kill the man himself. Whatever else he was, he was not a murderer.

No, Shepard had done that herself, quietly, long after Mordin was safely out of that awful lab. 'Dr. Frankenstein' had gone down in a spray of green blood just before she left that 'lab' for the last time. She had turned, sending Garrus and Mordin on ahead, indicating she wanted to speak to the man. The moment they were out of earshot, she had parted his head from his spindly neck with her omni-blade. The varren loose in the area had eaten his remains. No trace would ever be found.

“No. Ordered teams to search for him when trying to help Eve. Nothing so far.” Mordin bowed his head slightly. “Large galaxy. Plenty of places to hide. Could already be dead for all we know. Would kill him now, if possible. Unless he could help.”

Shepard felt that was her queue to change the subject. She was not ready to let him in on the fact that Maelon was already long dead. Glancing at Eve, she asked. “How's she doing?”

“No fever currently. Heart rate elevated, likely stress. Eating appropriately. Could use another blanket. Something soft.” Mordin ran it down for her. He glanced down at Shepard with a faint frown pinching the flesh between his eyes. “Prefer to let her recover fully before synthesizing cure. My medical recommendation.”

“My people don't have time for that.” Eve said forcefully from her exam bed.

Mordin waved a hand toward the female. “Her opinion _somewhat_ different.”

Shepard followed his gaze and her eyebrows raised slightly at the realization that struck her. What she said to him was not a question. “You care about her.”

“My patient. My responsibility. Found her at STG base. Three doctors injured trying to restrain her. Undid arm restraints. Didn't resist when she grabbed me. Promised to help her.” Mordin rolled his neck ever so slightly before continuing. “She said 'please'.”

“Any idea _why_ she's immune?”

“Genophage targeted hormone production during pregnancy. Modification project used same modality.” Mordin used the universal quoting finger gesture in his next statement. “Her 'immunity' totally different. Targeted glands now obsolete, like human appendix. Other glands mutated to produce proper hormones, enable viable birth. Also explains her weakness. Gland substitution imperfect. Health trouble.”

“You think you can make this work for all krogan?” she worried that the 'health trouble' would become a huge issue later on.

“Yes.” Mordin clasped his hands behind his back, a proud look on his face now. “Will use Eve's tissue to produce mutagen, alter gland function across entire species. Must improve mutagen as well, tune hormone production. Long-term illness for all krogan otherwise.”

“You've always defended your genophage work... What changed your mind?” it was a question she needed answered. She needed to know his investment in the cure was genuine.

“Never changed mind. Circumstances changed.”

“Those circumstances being?” she pushed.

“Reaper invasion.” he said simply. “Krogan need unified threat for aggression outlet. Turians need krogan support.”

Shepard stared at him for a moment. It was too simple. There had to be something more. “Nothing else? No personal stake here?”

“Getting old, Shepard. Not many years left. But still best candidate for project. Few salarian scientists interested in genophage. None with my expertise. Had to be me.” he glanced at Eve before returning his large eyes to her.

“Someone else might have gotten it wrong?” she asked.

“Possibly.” Mordin nodded. “My work. My job to put it right. To prove I can. Either way, glad to be back.”

“You plannin' to stick around when this is over?”

“Until Reapers dealt with, at least. Then... not sure. Have already made significant impact on galaxy...” he smiled at that before continuing, his smile growing larger. “Might go somewhere sunny. Sit on beach, look at ocean... collect seashells.”

“You'd go crazy inside an hour.” Shepard snorted.

“Might run tests on the seashells.” he amended with a chuckle.


	14. A Shaman's Insight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakara 'Eve' discusses the fate of the krogan people with Shepard.

The krogan once known as Bakara watched and listened from her perch on the exam bed. The old prejudice, fear and hatred of doctors warring with her need to make a difference for her people. She could not honestly say she hated this salarian. He truly was different and that difference required her to give him the benefit of the doubt. Her station as a shaman required no less. The doctor intrigued her. This salarian was not as his ancestors had been. He had not created the genophage, merely modified it. That very modification knowledge was what might now save her people from extinction. He seemed to genuinely want to help. After all, he had already saved her life once.

Thinking back to the moment when she decided to trust him, Bakara closed her eyes and relived it. She had been in restraints, salarian doctors seemingly swarming her with no clear idea how to help. Her panic had gotten the best of her then. Something completely unbecoming of a krogan shaman. She had fought them, kicked them and even resorted to biting one of them. Three of them had been injured and more were about to step in to the containment field when Mordin had stopped them.

Bakara had watched him enter, no less interest in him than the others in that moment. He simply stepped up to her and released the arm restraints. She had reacted out of instinct and grabbed him around the throat. He was so small and she could have crushed the life from him, but something deep within her resisted.

“Can help you if you will allow it.” Mordin had wheezed. “Promise to do everything possible.”

Bakara lowered him to his feet then and looked him in the eyes. Some part of her believed him. Somehow she knew he would keep that promise if she allowed it. Before she released him, she hauled him in close and whispered. “Please.”

Mordin had simply nodded, straightened his clothes and offered his hand to her. When she took it, he smiled and nodded again. It was an honest smile. A genuine expression that she had not seen on a single salarian before. That was why she trusted him now.

Opening her eyes, she noticed the human female stopping before her and taking in her appearance curiously. This human was unexpected. She was everything the rumors said and more. If she had not already seen the interaction between the human and the turian, she might not have believed the mixture of pheromones faintly wafting off the woman. The human would still have at least a measure of her trust even if she had not just saved her life on Sur'Kesh. She was clearly not a xenophobe. The mingled turian/human scent told the krogan everything she needed to know about their relationship. Shepard had set extreme difference aside along with old animosities to do what some still considered impossible. She had bridged the distance between her race and the turian people. That was no small accomplishment.

“Thank you for saving my life, Commander. I didn't think the krogan had any allies left in the galaxy.” Bakara finally said as the human stopped before her. Out of respect, she scooted off the exam bed and stood before the woman.

“We owe a lot to you, even if most people have forgotten that.” Shepard nodded.

“They can be forgiven. Our actions have hardly inspired friendship.” the krogan nodded.

Shepard locked eyes with her fearlessly. It was a quality the krogan greatly admired. The woman shrugged faintly, “Part of being friends is knowing each other's name. I feel bad that I don't know yours.”

“I surrendered it the day I became a shaman of the female clan. I belong to my sisters now.” she answered the woman, shifted from foot to foot. She was still very weak, but determined to stand her ground proudly. “But... perhaps one day, when this is over, you can know it.”

“I didn't realize the krogan had female shamans.” Shepard stated quietly. Clearly there was much she did not know about their culture.

“Wisdom comes from pain – and the genophage has made us very wise. Rather than surrender to despair, a few of us chose to preserve the ancient ways. We safeguard our culture, our knowledge, our secrets – so when our children live again, the krogan will flourish.” Bakara shifted from foot to foot restlessly. It pained her to stand, but stand she did. Pain was life and life was pain. She had accepted that reality long ago.

“How were you initiated?” Shepard asked. It was clear the human was genuinely interested.

To make her point, Bakara leaned in close. “You're locked in a cave for seven days with just enough food to last. On the eighth, you'll starve.”

“What does that prove?” the human asked skeptically as she took an uncomfortable half-step to the side, but did not retreat.

“Your resolve.” the krogan answered simply. Her eyes, the only part of her face visible, crinkled in amused pride. This woman had a quad for a certainty. Most would step back when eye-to-eye with any krogan, but most especially a female of the species. “Every acolyte is given a chance: you either claw your way out through the rock with your bare hands, or you die.”

“That's a brutal initiation.” Shepard spread her hands and said honestly, but held her ground even when the krogan female stepped back a single pace.

“But an illuminating one.” Bakara said with a nod before continuing. “You learn to appreciate the light by living in the dark.”

“How did you make it out alive?”

“I started digging the wrong way.” she could laugh at it now, but alone, in the dark, buried alive.... It was the stuff of nightmares. “I was in complete darkness. Nothing other than my own heartbeat to sustain me.”

“What happened?” Shepard asked softly, head cocked slightly to the side.

Bakara wondered for just a moment then how long the human had been cohabiting with the turian. She was clearly picking up some of his bird-like habits. Finally the shaman held out the crystal she had kept with her since that day. “I found this. A simple crystal, but it became my chisel. Take it as a reminder, Commander. In the darkest hour, there is always a way out.”

Shepard nodded as she took the crystal. Her eyes were locked to it, examining it as if it were the lifeline she did not know she needed. The shaman had seen the need and fulfilled it the best she could. It was linked to one possible future, but it was clouded over. The war had blurred all the visions that came to those few rare individuals like herself.

The next question the human asked was not what she would have expected. No one asked such questions, not out of respect, but more out of fear the krogan might actually tell them. As the human's might have said, the question was out in left field.

“If you don't mind me asking, what's it been like living with the genophage?” Shepard's voice was filled with caution.

“I knew sisters who couldn't bear the shame of being infertile. They would wander off into the wastelands, hoping a thresher maw would kill them and end their torment.” Bakara answered forcefully.

“Did the thought ever cross _your_ mind?” the human was prying deeper than she expected.

Bakara maintained eye contact for a moment more. This human seemed to honestly want to know what it had been like. She got the sense that Shepard truly cared.... about everyone.

Glancing down, she blinked and nodded. It was hard to admit and even harder to reflect on. “Yes. After my first stillborn.”

“What kept you from ending your own life?”

“When my child didn't draw breath, that's when my life truly began.” Bakara leaned in again, making eye contact. She needed this woman to see the pain, to see the unflinching resolve in her eyes. “The genophage forces us to live on hope alone. There is nothing else. There is no reason to exist other than to hope the next day will bring change. And if it doesn't,.... there is always the next.”

“That's no way to live...” Shepard murmured.

“It is the only way of life the genophage has left us.” Bakara said softly.

“This will change after the genophage is cured. Your people will look to the future with new hope.” Shepard gripped her wrist firmly.

“Our species will find it's balance again.” Bakara nodded and covered the human's hand on her wrist thankfully. “Females will help shape the future, as it was in the ancient days, before we were just pawns for power hungry males.”

Shepard snorted faintly at that. “Most seem hell-bent on shooting anything that looks at them wrong.”

Shrugging, Bakara's eyes crinkled in a smile. “What else is there for them to do? They're looking for excuses to earn them 'honor'. That is the legacy the genophage has left them.”

“What do you think of Wrex?” Shepard asked the most obvious question that she had clearly been leading the conversation toward.

“When he's not trying to sire half of Tuchanka, he's the best thing that's happened to the krogan – but I won't tell _him_ that. His head's big enough already. Literally.” there was a laugh in her voice at that. It had been a very long time since she had heard even a hint of her own humor.

Shepard crossed her arms and nodded. “He's turned into a strong leader.”

“He wants what's best for us, but many of the other clans don't see it that way. They see a ruthless leader willing to _drag_ them along if they do not willing follow.” Bakara stated as honestly as she could.

“Will he want revenge for the genophage?”

“Some clans will expected it, but I hope Wrex resists. He understands that the cycle of violence must end if the krogan are ever to have a voice in galactic politics. Still, he's just one krogan.....” the krogan shook her head sadly. She knew the chances of the other clans demanding retribution. The males were stubborn, selfish to a fault. “Wrex is different from most of our males. He's not as selfish as the others. He wants what's best for the krogan as a people. He's a mutant, and that you can tell him.”

Shepard half turned, glancing back toward the scientist quietly chattering to himself over a microscope. “How's Mordin been treating you?

“Better than most krogan males. He's not like a typical salarian.”

Mordin was chattering about organ redundancy and premature aging. It brought a faint smile to Shepard's face. “He does that.”

“But I sense pain in him, too. He told me about his work on the genophage.” Bakara looked away from both the salarian and the commander briefly. “I should consider him an enemy. Yet I think seeing my sisters and I changed something in him.”

Their attention was drawn back to the salarian as he began softly singing and then continued humming some mangled tune. Shepard turned back with a grimace. “Well, it wasn't his ear.”

Bakara actually chuckled at that. She could not remember the last time she had heard her own laugh. “I'm glad to see humans treat their women with respect. Your people have placed a lot of responsibility on your shoulders.”

“No more than your people have placed on yours.” Shepard said with a faint frown.

“Heh... Maybe we can show the men how it's done.” Bakara said as she took a seat on the exam table once more. Standing so long in her weakened condition had been taxing.

“Deal.” Shepard said with a smile that reached her eyes. The krogan was certain that was a rarity that few ever saw.

As Shepard left the med bay, Bakara watched her thoughtfully. This human, this woman was greater than the sum of her species. Politicians had chosen her for great things. Destiny would make her accomplishments unparalleled. Her only hope was that fate did not make the human a martyr. She had seen how the turian looked to his mate. Wrex spoke highly of the male. He called him 'friend', in no small part due to his honest loyalty and his unmatched skills with a rifle. She would hate to see grief destroy such a bright spark as his should something happen to his mate. The commander's fate was not something she could predict, at least not with the war twisting the strings of fate like yarn on a loom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The shaman in Native American culture is viewed as being endowed with mystical powers. With that in mind, I've added just a bit of headcannon to the krogan shaman. After all, if digging your way out of a cave was the only 'right of passage' for becoming a shaman in krogan lore, they would all be acolytes.


	15. Turian Classified

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard confronts Victus about the subject he would not discuss in front of 'the krogan'.

Shepard left the med bay thoughtfully. The female krogan was definitely not what she had expected at all. She was calm, thoughtful, respectful and diplomatic. All things Wrex was not when she had first met him. As a matter of fact, as she thought about it, those were all qualities he still could not lay claim to. She thought he might always be somewhat wild even once the genophage was cured and the war ended. Part of her wondered what the krogan had been like as a people before they nuked their planet. She had seen small sections of their world. They appeared to have been on par with human civilization from the mid twentieth century with splashes of something resembling Mayan culture. At least that was the impression she had gotten from the ruined hospital and the more distant ruins that could be seen across the wastes.

Lost in thought as she was, she made her way back up to the command deck and into the War Room without really noticing. She had a turian and a krogan to wring answers from. There were still things they clearly needed or wanted from her and she intended to have it out of them. Clearly they had been completely unwilling to divulge their requests within each other's hearing. That smacked of espionage or worse to her. _If those two start another war, I swear I'll feed them both to a thresher maw_.

“Commander.” Victus acknowledged her as she stopped before him.

“You said one of you ships gone missing?” she asked suspiciously. Neither he nor Wrex at this point had given her much reason for trust either of them.

“Crashed, actually. I couldn't speak in front of the krogan. It went down on Tuchanka. Now they're pinned down by an advanced guard of Reaper scouting the planet.” Victus said quietly as he scratched his left mandible.

_Oh. My. God! You're first! I swear I will toss you down the maw's throat personally!_ Shepard seethed for a moment, desperately trying to keep her expression neutral. Some of that anger came out in her next question. “What the hell are your men doing there?”

Victus refused to look at her for a moment. When he did, his expression was as closed off as any turian who was hiding something. “I'm sorry, Commander. That's classified.”

“Saying it's classified is just a nice way of saying mind your own business.” Shepard grumbled, realizing she was repeating Bailey's words.

“It's vital they be rescued. They must complete their original mission. It's a matter of.... galactic peace.” Victus continued as if he had not heard her grumble.

“Galactic peace.... Why is this mission so important?” Shepard was trying to keep the building anger out of her voice.

Victus hedged again.“I'm sorry, as I said, it's highly classified.”

When Victus turned away from her to stare at the holographic image of the Crucible, she stepped in closer. She was determined to get something out of him. “Look, if you want me to put my ass on the line, I need answers.”

“I can't tell you. Please understand.” Victus refused to face her.

“At least tell me how many men we're talking about here?” she growled.

“A platoon.” he answered simply, but it appeared as if the weight of the entire galaxy had just settled onto his shoulders.

Shepard glared at his back. He was not going to make this easy. She thought it might have been simpler to extract his teeth than to pry answers out of him. Turians were stubborn by nature, she knew that all too well.

“Well... If I'm taking a team down after them, I need a name. Who's my contact?” Shepard asked in a cold tone.

The primarch leaned on the console before him, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped as if already beaten. “The commander is Lieutenant Tarquin Victus. He'll be your contact.”

Crossing her arms, the name struck a cord. The realization hit her that her contact must be related to the turian before her. “Victus?”

The primarch finally half turned to face her. He gave her a pained look, the expression filled with sadness and despair. His voice was subdued when he finally spoke. “My son. I needed someone I could trust completely.”

Shepard knew there was mild shock on her face at his admission. There were reasons military leaders did not send family members on covert missions. The loss of said family was one of the biggest reasons. This man had to know his son might not come home.

From the look on his face, she knew she did not need to browbeat him with questions and demands. His son was on Tuchanka commanding whatever remained of those who had crashed on the planet. That was enough of a slap in the face for the moment.

“This is what you couldn't discuss in front of Wrex?” she asked and realized a moment later exactly how the krogan might have reacted to the knowledge.

Turning back toward the hologram, Victus shook his head. “We made our last stand during the Krogan Rebellions on Menae. The krogan are a relentless enemy. They were launching asteroids at our colonies. You must understand, Commander... The genophage was our last resort. I will not jeopardize our future with another mistake.”

“So you send an entire platoon to their homeworld to do..... what....?” at the look that pinned itself to his face when he looked at her again, she held up a hand to forestall him. “I know, it's classified.”

“Krogan intentions will be a serious concern after this war.... after the genophage is cured... In any case, I'd rather have a grateful ally than a resentful enemy.” Victus remarked with a chilly edge to his voice. He seemed to think about their current situation for a moment before continuing. “We need them. They would see only the mistakes of the past should they discover our true mission on their homeworld. That alone would cloud any future alliance ”

Shepard narrowed her eyes at him, but she knew he was right. Whatever this mission was, however vital he thought it might be, it could destroy the delicate balance they were all working so hard to build between the two races. The galaxy needed this alliance to defeat the Reapers.

“It can't be easy to reach out to a former enemy for help.” she commented quietly.

“Your race and mine were once enemies. The First Contact War, as you call it. I was there, dodging shells fired by your navy. But look at us now, standing in a ship of turian-human design, working together.”

“Is that how you see things working out with the krogan?” she asked thoughtfully.

“It's one possible hope, yes. The old animosities will linger for some time to come, but we have hope now. You have made that possible.” Victus eyed her for a moment clearly trying to decide if he wanted to voice his next thoughts. “If a human can set aside the same kind of hatred to love a turian,.... why can't turian befriend a krogan?”

Shepard said nothing for a moment, simply nodding in acknowledgment. If not for him pushing her bonding contract through the Hierarchy with his seal attached, she and Garrus would not have the legal ties she had meant them to have. She had made that choice to give him legal control over her remains should the worst happen. The man before her had pushed that contract through every channel he could find to make it as legal as possible. She had wondered why until now. Now she knew he saw it as a bridge.

Smiling faintly at her next thought, she realized Garrus might not have been wrong to worry about an arranged marriage between a turian and a krogan. It had seemed that was what Mordin had been suggesting as well. _Good thing we're already married_. The thought only served to soften her expression more and she laid a hand on the primarch's arm briefly.

“I'll put together a team to help your son. We'll bring him home...” the promise felt wrong somehow. Stained with blood as of yet unshed. She could not shake the feeling of wrongness, but she allowed her words to stand. The turian needed the reassurance.

“Thank you, Commander.” Victus nodded and turned back toward the information displayed before him. It was clearly a dismissal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter twisted itself around a little, but I think it worked out really well.


	16. Crash and Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lilfrey agreed to run this mission as Tarquin Victus' second, she had no idea how reckless the kid was.

Lilfrey could have gripped the straps of her harness and begged the spirits for a swift end if survival was not possible. Instead, she released it and began shoving men towards the hatch with jump packs and portable thrusters.

Forcing the hatch open, she wound the straps of the nearest harness around her wrist before pushing the first two out. Their packs were firmly strapped onto their backs. They would be fine so long as the Harvester did not see them.

Tarquin stayed on course as long as possible, but their route was blocked. She knew he would be forced to change course and soon. They avoided being shot down, but just barely as he finally altered their course. Her breath caught painfully when she was slammed into the bulkhead by his sudden evasive maneuvers. The path he chose was probably the worst one he could have taken. It would take them through the ruins, close to the ground. Visibility as well as maneuverability would be compromised there. It could still have worked if not for the Harvester off to their port side.

“Brace for impact!” Tarquin shouted to the remaining men mere seconds before the Harvester's fire hit them.

The fighter shook violently the moment the beam exploded against their hull. It nearly seared Lilfrey where she stood clinging to the bulkhead. If not for the straps of the harness biting painfully into her wrist, she might have been thrown out the hatch.

The scream of the engine filled the cabin like the cry of some dying giant prehistoric bird. They were going down and the chances of survival just narrowed exponentially. She pushed as many out with packs as she could, but there were not enough packs to go around. Those left behind, she directed to strap themselves in.

“If turians were meant to fly, we'd keep our feathers and grow wings.” Lilfrey shouted darkly at Tarquin as he did what he could to keep them in the air.

The straps of the harness broke her wrist with a sharp crack at the moment of impact. She bit back the scream of pain that nearly tore its way free of her lungs. She half expected the ship to explode around them as she ripped herself free of that harness with her talons. Once free, she began releasing anyone close by who was not already free. It was not an easy task with only one hand.

Making her way to the primarch's son, she realized he had banged his head pretty bad. He was lucky. He was still breathing. There were some in the rear who were not. Luckier still was the fact that he had not cracked his brow-plates. As she hauled him out of the craft, she knew the other survivors were not likely to be as forgiving. It did not matter, however. They still had Reaper forces to contend with. Once they were dealt with, then and only then would she allow them to confront their commanding officer. As his second, she would field their arguments as long as she could.

Lilfrey understood the primarch's insistence that she second his son now. She was older and much more seasoned then Tarquin. In reality, she should have been in command of this mission and both she and Victus knew it. As Cabal she did not quite fall into military jurisdiction, but as a Kabalim she technically outranked Tarquin. She had deferred to his command at his father's request.

Now she took commander, if only temporary, in order to get them all out of the downed craft. The risk of explosion was increasing by the second. “Let's go, Victus. We gotta move.”

The younger male did not resist her assistance as she hauled him out of his seat. He did not resist when one of his men took his other arm and helped her half drag him out into the open. The lieutenant needed air. It would clear his head enough to take command once again. At least that was her hope. These men did not know her and certainly did not trust her with the Cabal logo on her armor.

The moment they were outside, it all went to chaos. Reaper forces swarmed them and they were forced to fight for their lives. Tarquin seemed to regain his senses the moment they came under fire. He shouted orders which his men promptly followed. A few were lost in those first minutes. It could have happened to anyone.

Lilfrey's eyes locked onto the Harvester as it loomed mere yards away from them. Her eyes widened as she saw it readying to fire its primary weapon. The shout was out of her an instant before the blazing red beam hit three of their team. “Get down!”

Gasping in horror, she watched as those three men virtually melted where they stood. She looked back up at the Harvester and shuddered. It was huge. Even her biotics did not stand a chance against an enemy such as that. They were going to need some serious firepower. With the fighter down and the guns disabled, they did not have the firepower.

“Oh spirits....” Lilfrey gasped out when she saw a second Harvester join the first. One they might have been able to take down with weapons fire, but not two. He head snapped around at the sound of the radio crackling.

“......ander Shep..... Alli…... Navy. .........read?”

“This is Lieutenant Tarquin Victus of the Ninth Platoon. We're pinned down by Reaper Harvesters and taking heavy casualties.” Victus had skidded to the radio and grabbed the mic. It was an old unit, but at least it worked. “There are pockets of my men scattered along the crash trajectory.”

Lilfrey shoved one soldier down just before another Reaper blast took out his companion. This was bad and getting worse by the second. There were a few husks heading their way. Those she knew she could deal with. The decision was made before she even realized she was vaulting over their barricade. She dove into the horde and began dispatching them as quickly as she could with whatever means she had at hand. It was proving difficult one-handed, but she refused to give up. Her left elbow was still an effective enough weapon even if she could not use that hand.

“If I am to die here, this day on this radioactive dust ball.....” Lilfrey raged as she pinned one Marauder to the ground and ripped the wiring out of its throat. “I will take take as many of you with me....... as I can!”


	17. Scattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus has insisted he's fit for duty and joins the team to find the Ninth Platoon.

“Lieutenant, I need you to fire a flare so we can find your position.” Shepard was saying into the crackling static of the comm link.

Garrus' eyes snapped up toward the sky a few seconds later as the flare went up. They were close. He keyed his visor to zero in on the distance of their target. The platoon was not far, but he knew the ruins were going to present an obstacle.

“Got it.” Shepard said, glancing up at the streak of flames soaring up into the sky.

“Things are getting worse by the minute. My men are dying!” Lt. Victus snapped through the static.

They could all hear the gunfire in the background and the screams of the dying. Shepard turned to them then with determination etching into every line of her body. “This sounds bad. We need to move now.”

“Looks worse than I feared.” Garrus said quietly, a tired tone in his voice as he took in the sights of fires burning unchecked throughout the ruins. Hot ash filled the air making it hard to breathe as the sky grew darker with smoke.

Shepard gave him a concerned look even as she drew up near his shoulder. She would not voice that concern here unless he started lagging too far behind. He had assured her he was fit for duty, insisting that he come along for this one. Missions like this one tended to go sideways fast. If it did, he meant to be there to make sure she came back alive. That, he had told her, was nonnegotiable.

Garrus had not told her exactly how he had convinced Chakwas to release him for full duty so early. It had only been a few days since Sur'Kesh. His wounds were healing nicely thanks to several hours sitting under the regeneration unit, at least externally. It left him drained and nearly exhausted after each session, but he had been determined to join this mission.

“Where are they?” Shepard asked simply.

“Three kilometers northwest of here.” Garrus opened his omni-tool and glanced sideways at her. His visor painting targets on anything that moved as it tracked both friend and foe alike. It would help them locate the lieutenant's scattered men.

“Can you send me the coordinates?”

“Hmm...” he nodded and pinged her omni-tool. He glanced off toward the northeast, the direction they were going to be forced to head in order to find a way around the rubble. “It won't be an easy trek, but these ruins looks stable enough.”

“Then we better get started. We don't wanna be here after the sun sets.” Shepard nodded and headed off.

Garrus fell in behind her, toting his rifle at an awkward angle. She was still upset with him for deflecting her earlier concerns. Over the last few nights, she had changed the bandages, treating the healing wounds with the salve the doctor had provided. She knew the progress the wounds had made. He needed her to realize he could do this. Turians were made of tougher stuff than humans. He had gently reminded her of that, reminded her of the missile and Omega.

'You know I'm hard to kill.' he had said. She had clung to him, not speaking. Occasionally she had locked eyes with him, run her hand over the scars across his face or the hole in the rim of his cowl that would never fill in. A few times she even ran her hand over the bandages on his shoulder.

Shepard's face had been locked in a concerned frown and he thought once he had seen the glint of tears in her eyes. He knew she was reminding him silently that he was not invincible. After the missile on Omega, that was not something he was ever likely to forget. He had promised her then, after several long moments of silence, 'I'll be careful...' She had accepted his promise with a nod. She knew he rarely made promises.

Garrus did not leave their quarters until she had helped him into his armor. It was more difficult than he had expected it to be. The shoulder was stiff and sore with restricted flexibility. He toughed it out and refused to allow his bondmate to see just how much it was affecting him. Any other mission, he might have willingly sat on the sidelines for. Not this one. Something felt off about it.

As they came to a ladder leading up to the next level, Garrus voiced his concerns regarding the mission. “A secret turian mission on Tuchanka is _especially_ odd. Thoughts?”

“It doesn't matter. Our mission is clear.” Javik stated coldly.

The prothean always seemed cold, if not just a little angry. Garrus could only imagine what it must be like for the male. Frozen for fifty thousand years, hoping against hope that his people might somehow defeat the Reapers. Then waking up to find everything he had ever known had become little more than a few relics. He supposed if he were in the male's position, he might be just a little angry himself.

Garrus followed the others up the ladder. It was not an easy climb for him. His shoulder was not cooperating and he was forced to sling his rifle onto his back and climb one-handed. He was determined not to show the pain it was already causing him.

They traveled through a few half collapsed corridors with nothing but the sound of their own footsteps to keep them company. It felt too easy. They could hear the distant rumble of weapons fire and Reapers. In some places, the light of day did not penetrate the darkness of the ruins around them.

“Silence. Enemies ahead.” Javik growled sharply in a low tone as he ducked behind a fallen cement beam the second they entered a larger room.

“We don't want them calling for backup.” Garrus grumbled and dropped near the prothean, his rifle already leveled on the edge of the beam. Three of them, easy enough targets.

“They won't get the chance.” Shepard growled and slung a singularity out at them, catching all three before they could make a sound.

As soon as the husks were down, they continued moving. Garrus groaned inwardly at the sight of the next ladder. Clearly someone had been excavating the ruins and laying in groundwork for an easier path through them. Easier if he had not been sporting a couple of nearly debilitating shoulder wounds. It took him a couple more minutes to make the top with this one.

“The turian is slowing.” Javik grumbled as he passed by Shepard.

“I'm fine.” Garrus snapped as he finally made it to the top. He was not fine, not at all. Climbing ladders was not something he had anticipated with this mission. He had known any mission would be difficult with his healing injuries, just not so much so.

“I question the wisdom of allowing him to take part in this mission with such injuries.” Javik growled.

“He'll keep up.” Shepard glared at the prothean before glancing back at Garrus. She gave him a faint nod with a concerned look pinned to her face.

They made it over another small obstacle and he saw the escape pod burning to their right. He wondered if the fighter had been big enough to be carrying those. This one might be from another ship. Either way, there were bodies nearby. “Escape pod. Our first casualties. Looks like they survived the crash, but then a Harvester took out the pod.”

“Died in the explosion?” Shepard agreed before jumping over a small gap in the floor.

“Or dragged out and _eaten_ by husks.” Garrus thought he was going to be sick when he came closer to the half charred remains. One of them had clear signs of being chewed on.

“Gunfire. They are near.” Javik stated the obvious as they came into another larger area.

“Has to be one of those pockets the lieutenant mentioned. Our target is still a couple of klicks away.” Garrus said as he glanced off toward their destination, his visor painting that target a deep crimson.

Shepard vaulted over a small obstacle and sidled in behind a support beam that had been sheared off. She glanced around it as Garrus and Javik took up positions on the opposite side. Finally she nodded. “Ok, I have a visual on the enemy... and there's debris from the ship just beyond. Looks like the turians are in a tough spot. The enemies up ahead _don't_ know we're here.”

Garrus looked up at her from his crouched position with a widening of his mandibles. His voice carried an almost seductive quality to it that rang of deep satisfaction in the current odds. “Surprise is on our side for once. I like it.”

“Exactly.” Shepard nodded at him with a smile of her own. She checked the heat sync on her pistol and looked toward the enemy. “Let's go.”

Garrus watched her dart off to take cover behind a fallen pillar. The second she was down, he took careful aim at one of the Reaper-spawn firing at the scattered turian survivors. The shot was clean, precise and deadly. The Cannibal dropped like a sack of rocks with a smoking hole in the back of its head.

Shepard gripped the second in a lift and threw it as far as her biotics could. It skidded across the dirt floor a few feet after hitting and disappeared over the edge of a chasm. The place was crawling with Cannibals. For every one or two they took down, more seemed to crawl out of the rubble itself.

Garrus was focused on picking off the Cannibals closing on Shepard as she moved forward. He was not aware of the husk closing in on him from behind until it was too late. The husk grabbed him, lifting him from his sniper location. His rifle was knocked to the ground as the wild little beast gripped his throat and snapped at him hungrily. He struggled with it for several thunderous heartbeats before he managed to swing it around and overbalance it.

With a grunt, he grabbed its head and allowed it to pull him forward. Thrusting it down toward the fallen pillar he had hidden behind, he brought all his upper body weight down on his gloved hands. The impact cracked its head like an egg. He continued to pound it against the pillar with grunts of sickened rage until there was nothing but shattered bone, tangled wires and mushy brain tissue. The moment the rage vanished, he tottered backward and sat down hard, scooting away from the mangled husk in shock.

 _Spirits... this war... it's turning us all into monsters..._. The sound of a turian scream drew him out of his shock and he grabbed his rifle up out of the dripping muck that had once been something other than a husk. Human, he knew it had once been human. He did not want to think about just how easily its head had exploded against the concrete in his hands.

“Incoming Harvester!” came the shout of one of the scattered platoon.

Seconds later the creature swooped in and started firing its primary weapon in short sprays. The turians hid the best they could, but one or two were caught in the attack. The debris nearby turned out to be yet another escape pod.

“The Harvester has compromised the turian escape pod!” Javik shouted, taking cover seconds before the pod exploded.

Shepard bombarded the Harvester with everything she had. Javik threw... whatever it was that passed for his biotics at the beast as well. Garrus was not sure who fired the deciding shot, but eventually the thing flapped its wings and took off again.

“Don't stop for us. We'll head to the main crash site.” one of the survivors called across the chasm to them the moment the Harvester was gone.

“There's another pod ahead.” a second turian called.

The moment they ran off, Shepard headed for yet another ladder. This one was only one flight up. Garrus managed it with minimal pain. His shoulder felt hot and he was fairly certain he might have torn the knife wound open again. He was going to pay for that later, there was no doubt in his mind.

“They'll live to fight another battle.” Javik said as they topped the ladder.

Shepard disappeared over the edge of a drop-off only a few steps away from the ladder. She called up as she continued on ahead. “Keep moving! We need to _find_ the main crash site ASAP.”

Garrus waited until the prothean was down before he attempted to drop the eight feet to the next level. He hit with a grunt, but maintained his footing. As he moved after the others, he noticed the dead turian soldier off to his right.

“Being the son of Adrien Victus is a _lot_ to live up to. It's a big military name on Palaven. War's expected to _run_ in the Victus blood.” Garrus finally commented of their rescue target.

“War was a way of life for my people as well.” Javik stated. He almost sounded sad. “If you couldn't fight the Reapers you were... left behind.”

The hard look the prothean gave him was not lost on Garrus. He understood all too well. The male would not come back for him if he went down. That explained why there had been no help from him with the husk. The turian locked eyes with him for a moment and nodded. “Survival of the fittest....”

“Precisely.” the prothean gave him a disgusted sneer.

Garrus deliberately checked his heat sync and cocked his rifle with a jerk of his arm. Dull pain flared in his shoulder, but he ignored it. This male was getting under his plates like a sand tick and he did not like it. The implication that the prothean meant to leave him behind fueled the adrenaline he was currently running on with a fresh surge of anger.

As they continued to move forward through the ruins, they heard more weapons fire. Bullet holes riddled many of the columns around them. Blue blood coated the ground near a collapsed wall of rubble. A partially crushed turian soldier could be seen among the debris.

Just past him, they came into yet another semi-collapsed room. There was fighting up ahead, but the enemy had not yet seen them. “Looks like we got the jump.”

“Follow my lead.” Shepard said quietly as she stepped into a run toward cover.

They came out into the open in a few short strides. There were Cannibals firing on a few soldiers. One male cried out just before Shepard shot the Cannibal about to eat him with her pistol. It went down on top of him and he pushed it off, rolling away in panic.

The worst were the Marauders, in Garrus' opinion. He was sure the same was true for any species confronted with the own turned Reaper-spawn. A shudder passed through him when he brought his rifle to bear on the one firing on Shepard. The bullets were pinging off her shields, but he knew that would only keep her safe for a few shots. He meant to take the thing down before it got through them.

“Help!” came a cry from a little ways away.

Garrus put a bullet through the Marauder's eye and moved forward, toward the cry for help. Shepard had her hands full with a couple of Cannibals. He saw another soldier heading for the source of the cry. The male had his assault rifle up and ready.

“Got him in my sights!” he yelled an instant before he opened fire on the Reaper-spawn.

“Look out. I'm...” the next instant the first male went down under two more Cannibals. They began eating him before his dying scream had ended.

“Oh shit! Harvester incoming!” came another call.

The blast of napalm it fired nearly took Shepard before she ducked into cover. Garrus ran ahead and rolled into cover before it could lock on him. He did not see the prothean nor did he really care where the male was.

The moment he peeked up above the edge of the downed column he was crouched behind, he growled. “Damn! Another Harvester.”

The thing was barely ten feet from him as he leveled his rifle on the edge of his barricade. He aimed for the big blue disk in its chest hoping that was something vital. Firing off a few rounds, he realized it was vital as the monster flinched away from the hits. It geared up to fire another blast of napalm as he was charging a couple of heat syncs to fire at it.

Shepard let out a shriek as the blast clipped her and went right through her shields. He nearly dropped what he was doing to go to her, but he had a clean shot. Taking that thing down was what he needed to do in that moment. If it kept firing on them, it would not matter if he got to his bondmate or not. They might all end up dead.

“Firing concussive shot!” he shouted just before firing those charged heat syncs from the modified barrel of his rifle.

They struck the center of the blue disk and exploded. The Harvest let out a screech and fell over with a thunderous boom. Garrus would have hooted in celebration if he had not been desperate to get to Shepard. He needed to be sure she was alive. She had remained down after that last blast.


	18. Caught in the Maze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only thing going through her mind as she gripped her forearm was the Harvester pinning them down.

Shepard leaned against the downed pillar gripping her left forearm. She inched deeper into cover using her neck muscles to lever her upward. The Harvester's blast had not been severe enough to collapse her shields, but it had triggered the hand print that kept coming back from Harbinger. Somehow, she was linked to the Reapers. That realization worried her as she stripped her gauntlet off and glared at the blistered layer of flesh on her arm.

“ _Spirits_ , Shepard....” Garrus hissed as he ducked in close.

“It's not bad.” she glanced up at him before returning her gaze to the burn. The commander hoped her bondmate did not notice the shape of the wound. “Damn Reaper breached my shields.”

“That is a prothean hand print.” Javik accused as he glared at her from the next barricade over.

“It was a Collector...” she began as she secured the gauntlet once more.

“Harbinger.” Garrus said simply and stared at her until she made eye contact with him.

“Yeah....” she finally admitted then looked down at her arm as she squeezed her fist a couple of times. “We don't have time for speculation here. We've got a crash site to find.”

Garrus nodded and glanced over the barricade at the turians running in the direction of the crash site. He looked back at Shepard a heartbeat later. “I think we saved all those men.”

“Most of them.” she answered, remembering the man that had been eaten.

“Right.” Garrus said, seeming to catch on quickly.

After another moment, she climbed to her feet. The pain was easing and there was a mission to see to. The burn would not slow her down, but it was going to be damned uncomfortable. Their path was unclear, at best. She stood there for a moment trying to choose the best route. The turian moved off looking as well.

Her head snapped in his direction when Garrus called from a half collapsed doorway. “Over here.”

Garrus had already dropped down out of what might once have been a large window. He moved off a bit to give her enough space to join him. It was an easy drop, maybe seven feet at most. Javik joined them a moment later and they moved on along what appeared to have been some kind of promenade long before the krogan had destroyed their world with nukes.

“Do you read, Commander?” came Lt. Victus' voice through the static. “Repeat: do you read?”

“Shepard here. What's your status?” she asked as she continued moving along their current path. They were getting close. The static was not distorting his comm as badly as before.

The lieutenant's shout was frantic. “We're in deep! Commander, what's your ETA?”

“Hang tight. We're closing in on your location.” she responded as she came to yet another drop-off. This one had to be at least twelve feet down.

Instead of just jumping off, she lowered herself over the edge and hung by her hands for a moment before dropping. Moving off she watched as her team prepared to join her. Garrus followed her example and dropped beside her with a grunt. She could see the tells of pain etching into the creases along his brow-plates. This mission was taking a hard toll on his healing shoulder.

Javik grunted at them both and shifted something across the back of his armor. A moment later he launched himself into the air over the pit. Shepard had flashes of the Collectors zipping through the air as he drifted down toward them on severely disproportionate wings. They reminded her of the wings of a fly. She snorted and turned away as the thought of a fairy princess briefly intruded into her thoughts.

The snorting chuckle evaporated as she caught sight of the bodies scattered through this next corridor. So many of the platoon were already dead. Most had died at the hands of the Reapers. She hoped they reached the rest before they were taken down as well.

“Marnek, how's our velocity?” came the voice of another soldier over the comm.

“Deceleration online. We'll survive.” Marnek stated.

“Victus is going to pay for this.” the first snapped.

“Court-marshal or hanging?” Marnek asked sounding almost as if there was a chuckle in his voice.

“How will the commander live this down?” Javik asked as they continued looking for the best route through the ruins.

“When we find him, we'll ask.” Shepard stated.

They were nearly out of the worst of the ruins now, at ground level from the looks of things. It was too quiet Shepard realized as she moved away from the cover the ruins had offered. She felt almost naked out in the open.

“Husks coming!” Garrus shouted an instant before Shepard saw the fireball heading for the ground.

It struck before she could throw herself back into cover. The shockwave knocked her off her feet. The air whooshed out of her in a grunt as she hit the dirt. Still she managed to aim her pistol at the horde that spread from the dissipating fireball. Garrus was at her side in an instant, his three-fingered hand hooking into the underarm gap in her armor to drag her into cover with him. He fired at the husks with his own pistol as well, having swapped his rifle for the less cumbersome weapon.

Once they were secure, Shepard threw out a shockwave to unbalance the runners. There were not many of them thankfully. What seemed like eternal minutes was over in a matter of seconds only. As soon as she was sure it was clear, Shepard rolled to her feet. She rested a hand on Garrus' right shoulder briefly before moving off. He had saved her ass countless times and she knew he would continue to do so. She would do the same for him as many times as it took to make it through this war.

Javik seemed about as useful as a bump. He defended himself, but he did not go out of his way to defend anyone else. She could almost understand the screaming matches that erupted between him and Liara periodically.

Looking around, Shepard stepped over to a ladder leading down and realized they were not yet as close to ground level as she had first thought. With a faint sigh, she turned and slid down the ladder, landing on the floor below with a soft thump. She hated fighting in tight quarters and there were bound to be more Reapers ahead.

“Commander, come in.” Lt. Victus cut through the static with a crackle of distant gunfire.

“Shepard here.” she responded as she moved away from the ladder to give the others space.

“Just saw Harvesters drop a lot of enemies in your path.” he stated.

“Understood.” Shepard said trying to keep the growl out of her voice. She knew the calm had been too good to be true.

“Oh crap!” Garrus gasped breathlessly the instant the Harvester's head dropped to their level. He tried to find cover before it launched the liquid fire toward him.

Shepard was too far away. The scene played out in slow motion for her as she saw the Harvester fire the napalm. It headed straight for her bondmate and he had nowhere to go. She could almost smell his plates roasting already as she ran for him.

Javik tackled the turian and threw them both down behind a pile of collapsed stone the instant before the napalm struck the ground where Garrus had been standing. Shepard let out a breath that was bordering on a sob as she took cover herself. She had to admit, the turian was slower. He was not as ready for this mission as he had lead her to believe. Though he had not lied to her, never had, in fact, she knew he was certainly capable of severely bending the truth when he needed to. Clearly he had felt a need to.

The moment she had a clear shot, she loaded the Harvester's mouth full of lead. That turned out to be a critical spot as well and it went down with the typical eezo-like explosion. It took a couple of husks out with it. The rest went down easily enough.

“Ok, let's pick it up. It's important we don't lose this squad.” Shepard said as she stepped out of cover. She had made the primarch a promise and she meant to keep it.

“To hold the krogan back seems unproductive. All available forces should be mobilized against the Reapers.” Javik speculated.

“Krogan-turian animosity is ancient and intense – it's inborn.” Garrus sounded just a little angry that the prothean did not understand the dynamics of the two cultures.

“And I need them to work together, so let's not complicate things.” Shepard replied to both of them.

Several more corridors and drops later, they came to another large room with a number of broken columns. There were enemies everywhere up ahead. She meant to take them out as quickly as possible.

“Alright, let's move!” she barked as she bolted for cover.

“Reaper blood will spill!” Javik shouted as he peeled off to the right.

“For Palaven!” Garrus shouted passionately as he peeled off to the left of her.

Shepard glanced his way as he ran for the cover of an unbroken pillar. He looked angry and ready to tear the Marauder ahead of him apart with his bare hands. Glancing toward Javik, she realized he was equally angry and rightly so. Both of them had lost their worlds. The prothean had lost his entire race. The turians still had hope of recovering from this war.

“Brute at eleven o'clock!” Shepard shouted as she sighted the massive armored monster not far from Garrus.

“Crap!” Garrus growled and she saw him palm a couple of grenades. He was biotically charging them when she opened fire on the Cannibal heading her way.

“Heads up!” the turian yelled a moment later as he threw the glowing grenades at the charging Brute. They bounced off its armor and landed at its feet. An instant later, they exploded and the monster teetered, but kept coming.

Garrus darted from the column to a lower block of concrete as the Brute slammed into his previous cover. The whole place seemed to shake and dust rained down on them all with the impact. Eyes locking to the ceiling for a heartbeat, Shepard noted how unstable it really was.

“That thing's gonna bring the place down around us!” she shouted as she rolled out of the reach of a determined husk.

“Not if I can help it.” Garrus growled back, taking aim at its face. She could tell it was not the careful aim he usually employed. This was sloppy, meant to make quick work of the Brute. He fired before the barrel was perfectly lined up and the Reaper-spawn went down.

 _That's what makes him a hell of a sniper. He doesn't have to take much time to line up the shot. It just comes naturally to him_. Between the three of them, they made short work of most of the Reaper-spawn. The last was a Marauder and as much as she hated taking them down, Shepard put three pistol rounds through what was left of its brow-plates.

The moment she thought they were clear, another Harvester landed a few yards away. Pulling out her own sniper rifle, Shepard took barely a heartbeat to line up a shot with the disk in its chest. A single shot through that disk and it went down. She realized it must have already been damaged before she fired on it.

“Area secured.” Garrus said a moment later, his hand touching the side of his visor.

“This way!” Javik barked as he stopped short of the area the Brute was resting in.


	19. Sacrifices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilfrey holds her peace as long as she can after Shepard's team arrives at the crash site.

Lilfrey saw them coming as she held her broken wrist close to her chest. Victus rolled one of the downed men over, checking for any signs of life. There were none. The male was dead.

“Lieutenant Victus?” Shepard asked when she drew close enough to be heard without shouting.

Victus turned his head to look at Shepard. From the look on his face, she was not quite what he had expected. He rose to his feet and stepped toward the edge of the drop-off. “Commander Shepard, my men and I are in your debt. Thank you for saving so many.”

A moment later, he hopped down to her level. Lilfrey and two others followed him down. They stopped just a few feet from the commander, sizing her up against their own mental images. Each had their own idea of what this woman must look like. The reality left most scratching their mandibles. She was small, smaller than a good many humans most of them had met.

“What happened here?” Shepard asked.

Marnek grabbed Victus by his armored cowl and hauled him close as if planning to headbutt him. His voice held a dangerous quality to it when he spoke. “He screwed up!”

Victus hunkered low as if ready for a fight. “Stand down, soldier!”

Marnek glanced at Shepard then locked eyes with Victus once more. “These men are _dead_ because of _him_!”

“I _said_... stand _down!_ ” Victus snarled never taking his eyes off the threat before him.

Finally Shepard put herself between them. She literally pushed them apart with a snarl of her own. “Hey! I just _saved_ all your asses, so everyone just calm down!”

Marnek glared at her, shook his head and stepped away. Lilfrey watched him curiously. He was right. Victus had put them all at risk and it had cost some of them their lives.

“Lieutenant, what's goin' on here?” Shepard asked the moment it became clear the two males were not about to tear each other apart.

Victus could not look at her. He kept his face turned, eyes downcast as he answered her. Finally he did look up at her as he explained.“I made a bad call. This is all on me. I chose caution and clever tactics over a head-on attack – and my men paid the price.”

“You mean the crash?” Shepard indicated the downed ship nearby with the wave of one hand.

“Yes. We could see on holo that Reaper forces were blocking our intended path – staying on-course guaranteed heavy casualties.” Victus began to pace as he explained exactly what had happened. “So I chose a safer route, skirting the enemy, and that took us low and through these ruins. When we encountered resistance, there was no room to maneuver. We were in a fight for our lives before we even realized what was happening. A lot of my men lost that fight.”

Lilfrey watched Marnek seething at how calmly the lieutenant explained his mistakes. It was almost painful to watch. She could have sworn his mandibles were going to tear themselves from his face. He was a good man, a far more seasoned soldier than the lieutenant for a certainty. If not for him, she would not have the splint stabilizing her wrist now.

“Owning your mistakes takes guts, but right now, you have to get over it and move on.” Shepard told him.

“Of course... it's just fresh right now.” Victus admitted. “Our mission's still a failure. When we've stabilized the injured, we'll head back to the fleet.”

“You're abandoning your mission?” Shepard asked him skeptically.

“We're down over thirty men. It'd be suicide.” Victus snapped at her.

“Your 'safer route' _was_ suicide!” Lilfrey snapped at him. She could hold her peace no longer. Getting right up in his face, she snarled at him angrily. “Our mission _must_ be completed!”

“What exactly did you come here to do?” Shepard asked, glaring at both of them.

Victus glared at Lilfrey for several seconds more before he turned his attention back to Shepard. “There's a bomb on the planet. We were sent to defuse it.”

“How big a bomb are we talking about here?” Shepard shuffled backwards every so slightly.

“Enormous....” Victus cast his gaze downward.

“Cerberus has it.” Lilfrey snapped peevishly.

Shepard shifted her weight and took a half step forward, her eyes locked on Victus now. “Lieutenant, if _Cerberus_ has that bomb, you _have_ to finish your mission.”

“Haven't these men _sacrificed_ enough?” Victus growled at her.

“I understand, believe me, I do... This kind of sacrifice is the hardest to ask for, but your men signed on for it, and so did you.” Shepard made her opinion abundantly clear.

“The men have lost faith in him, Commander.” Lilfrey said quietly.

“Even if I wanted to finish the mission, they don't.” Victus stated, nodding his head toward the remains of his milling platoon.

“You don't get it, do you? It's _your_ job to _make_ them want to.” Shepard grumbled at him. It was clear she was seeing him for the kid he was.

“How?” he shrugged, clearly at a loss.

“Their sacrifice means that others will _never_ face what they faced here today. Remind them that those sacrifices have no honor if the mission fails.”

Victus was clearly thinking the commander's words over as he swallowed hard. His expression shifted from despair to determination in a couple of heartbeats. He turned toward the remainder of the platoon. “Men! I _own_ what happened here today, but we have to carry on!”

“No we _don't._ Who cares about a few dead _krogan_? _It's over!_ ” Marnek growled, stepping away from the wall and spreading his arms slightly.

“We are turian, _and we will not let Cerberus succeed!_ Our _sacrifice_ is the difference between life and death for this entire galaxy! Let the heroes of the Ninth Platoon be _remembered_ for performing their duties with _bravery_.” the speech Victus delivered was compelling, but Lilfrey was not sure if it would be enough.

“The shuttles will be here any minute. It's now or never.” Lilfrey growled at the lot of them. As his second, it was her duty to reinforce his commands.

“We're moving out as soon as they arrive.” Victus barked. His confidence seemed to be returning in leaps and bounds.

Marnek was the first to fall-in. The others followed his example shortly. They all knew that, as catastrophic as the crash had been, it was still a minor setback. With a Victus in charge, their mission would continue. With Shepard backing them it would succeed.

“Commander? Come with us.” Victus turned back and requested. “We're a shell of what we were – we could use the help.”

Shepard crossed her arms as he stepped toward her. She seemed to think it over for a moment before answering. “Send me the NavPoint. I'll see what I can do.

“Thank you.” Victus said, relief clear in his voice as he opened his omni-tool. “That'll give us time to do a little recon, see what we're up against.”

“Victus, you have a second chance here... make their sacrifice count.” Shepard said, stepping toward him.

“Understood, Commander. Hope to see you at the rendezvous.” he said, saluting her.

Lilfrey watched him as he stepped away. She waited until he was out of earshot before she spoke to Shepard. “He was hoping you would accompany us – and take command.”

“I know...” Shepard nodded, pulling her eyes off the back of the retreating turian to look at the female before her. “But this is _his_ command and his mission. He needs to see it through or his platoon will lose faith in him completely.”

“And that would be the greatest sacrifice he might ever suffer.” Lilfrey agreed.

“Exactly.” Shepard said with a nod.

“It could put a giant black mark on the Victus name for all time.” Garrus spoke up.


	20. Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tarquin Victus is determined to redeem himself at any cost.

“Normandy shuttle, this is Lieutenant Victus, with the Ninth Platoon. Do you copy?” Victus waited for a moment, staring at the screen for confirmation.

“We hear you, Ninth Platoon.” Shepard's image resolved itself from the snow on the screen.

Victus breathed a sigh of relief at her image. “We're approaching the bomb site, Commander. Getting bounced around pretty bad.”

“This is as close as we get, Lieutenant. Look for somewhere to set your platoon down.” Shepard responded.

“Copy that.” Victus said as he tapped several keys and brought up the topography of the area.

“Talk to me about this Cerberus bomb.” Shepard said. She was clearly digging for any information she could get from him.

Shaking his head, he locked eyes with the image on his screen. “It's not Cerberus, Commander. It's... turian.”

“What do you mean 'turian'?” she snapped at him.

“It was planted centuries ago, after the Krogan Rebellions. The bomb was a safeguard against another galactic war.” Victus sighed regretfully. He sincerely hoped the information did not change her mind about helping them.

“Brutal, but it makes a certain kind of sense. Put the krogan down hard if they tried anything.” Vakarian said to Shepard as he stepped into view of the screen.

Shepard gave him a hard look that said she absolutely did not agree with that opinion. Victus understood, but he was in total agreement with his fellow turian. The commander did not know the full history of the Krogan Rebellions, no human did. She could not be expected to understand the drastic measures the turians had been forced to take in order to survive.

“You won't earn trust with tactics like that.” Shepard grumbled and Victus wondered if she was talking to him or Vakarian. Perhaps she was giving them both sound advice. “But right now, we focus on disarming that bomb.”

“Yes, but Cerberus found it. Detonation means all-out war between my people and the krogan.” Victus stated sounding calmer than he felt.

“Right. Where is it?” Shepard's tone was demanding. He could not blame her.

“Those buildings ahead. Cerberus brought in equipment to dig it up.” Victus supplied the information she had requested. He meant for her to take charge of this mess if at all possible. “The Ninth Platoon will cover your flank, Commander.”

“With all this activity, the krogan _have_ to know something's up.” Shepard grumbled.

“Then we _can't_ fail, Commander.” his tone brooked no argument.

“Copy that, Lieutenant.” she said before turning away from the screen.

Tarquin knew she had spoken to his father about the bomb. He had received a message from him a short time ago. As Palaven's primarch, he had been extremely reluctant to divulge the information she had demanded of him. With the entire galaxy hanging in the balance, he had gone against his better judgment and given her a few bits and pieces anyway. The rest he had left to his son. It was the strategy of a true politician and the younger Victus did not care for it. His father had left him holding the bag, as it were.

No sooner than he had set the shuttle down, he and his men poured out of it. He looked around, readying his weapon and located the bomb site quickly. His eyes locked onto the Normandy shuttle as it set down not far away. He heard gunfire seconds after the dust settled.

Shepard and her team were already engaging the enemy. Her voice carried over the the radio waves. “Let's move it, people!”  
“Get behind something!” Vakarian shouted, his voice carrying that much louder.

The flash of weapons fire forced Tarquin to slam himself up against the outer hull of his shuttle before returning fire on the Cerberus troops nearest himself. “We're getting heavy resistance here!”

Lilfrey moved up with Marnek and a couple others, taking out anything that got in their path. He did not know the female well, but he had seen her in action. She was a force to be reckoned with in hand-to-hand combat. That was to say nothing for her biotic skills. Even with the use of only one hand, she was brutal with those skills. He was beginning to understand why the Cabal were shunned, but he could also see their value. Every resource was needed to win this war and the Cabal were the elite force of Palaven.

Shifting his position, he took out another of Cerberus' shocktroops and ran on ahead. His breath came in short bursts as he shouted over the comm. “Entrance sighted! We're on the move!”

Rolling for cover, Tarquin barely missed the explosion of a grenade that was lobbed at him. He panted for a moment as he pressed himself flush against a pitted concrete wall. He flinched only slightly when the shockwave blasted several troopers off their feet near him. His eyes found those of Lilfrey and he nodded his thanks before moving on.

“Once we reach the bomb, I'll need to reprogram the trigger mechanism.” Tarquin said into the comm as he made his way closer to that bomb.

“Copy that. No trigger, no explosion.” Shepard replied through the sounds of combat.

“Shepard has breached the perimeter.” came the loud call of one of the Cerberus commanders.

Tarquin smiled at that and kept moving. Cerberus was worried. That was good news for their two teams. Shepard would be the perfect distraction while he and his team reached that bomb.

“Take her out!” another shouted and could be heard a short distance away with the naked ear.

“We defeat the krogan and then plant a bomb on their planet. Pretty extreme, but those were desperate times.” Vakarian came over the comm.

Tarquin realized Shepard had patched all their comm links together. It made a certain kind of sense. The closer to the two teams came to each other, the more critical their movements would become. Each of them needed to know where the other was.

“A cunning strategy. Control your enemies without them knowing it.” the weird alien he had seen with them replied. He believed the male's name was Javik and that he might actually be a prothean.

The moment Tarquin thought they were in the clear, he and his team began moving into the open. He was wrong. Mortar shells began dropping around them. Men screamed, some died. It was chaos. He found himself inside a biotic field that crackled weakly as Lilfrey grabbed his arm and hurried him onward.

“Commander! We're getting a lot of mortar fire! Heavy casualties!” he barked into the comm as Lilfrey guided him along another route. “Taking alternate route! Circling around the bomb site!”

“Copy that.” Shepard responded. He thought he heard a note of frustration in her voice.

“Argo Team, detonation protocol nearly complete!” came the growl of a Cerberus tech up ahead. “All available units, converge on Shepard's location. Contain her!”

“I'm getting a lot of Cerberus radio chatter. They're prepping for evac.” Tarquin commented of all the interference he was hearing.

“I don't like the sound of that.” Shepard replied.

“I don't think _they_ like _you_.” Tarquin tried to make lite of the situation.

“That's the best news I've heard all day. I don't care for them either.” Shepard huffed what might have been a faint laugh.

“Detonation protocol complete! Let's go!” came the Cerberus tech's voice again.

Tarquin picked up his pace, meeting Lilfrey's eyes briefly as they both began to run. There were some serious bonuses to running under the protection of a biotic field, he realized. Very little got through it even though it crackled chaotically. He would have run without it if he must. Cerberus was tearing out of there at breakneck speed now. That could only mean the bomb was rigged to blow any minute.

“There's a better vantage point up the ramp, Shepard!” Vakarian's voice again.

Tarquin knew they were in sight of the bomb now. He saw the biotic blast pass through the shuttle hovering near it. Their teams were about to converge on the site. His moment of redemption was close at hand, he could feel it.

“Agreed! Let's go!” she replied.

“A planet killer, hidden under the ruins.” Javik commented as they drew up that ramp.

“It must have been far enough underground to stay hidden. Cerberus had to dig it out.” Shepard said as she came into view on the other side of the pit the bomb had been buried in.

“I hope Victus knows what he's doing. We _won't_ get a second chance.” Vakarian grumbled as he stopped beside the human. Clearly he was questioning the logic in this mission. “We gotta move, Shepard. We don't know what Cerberus did to that thing. It could blow any minute.”

Finally they reached the entrance of the ruins that had safeguarded the bomb. Tarquin could see the control station. “Commander, we're entering the bomb site. Moving toward the control station now.”

“Roger that. We're on our way.” Shepard replied and he saw her move off toward a ladder.

“We're nearly on top of the bomb. Cerberus will be back with everything they've got.” Vakarian growled.

“It was a mistake to allow us to get this far.” Javik nearly purred.

“I'm at the control panel, Commander. Cerberus set up a firewall around the trigger mechanism to slow us down.” Tarquin grumbled as he accessed the program. He glanced up and scanned the area nearby for signs of Shepard and her team. “I need to create a bypass. That'll take time. But like you said: no trigger, no explosion.”

“Are you sure you can disarm the trigger?” Shepard asked as she came running up behind him.

Tarquin glanced back with a faint intake of breath. He had not expected her to pop up out of nowhere like that. Nodding, he turned back toward the console. “Yes. It's old tech. I know what to do. Buy me a few minutes, Commander.”

“We'll make sure you have the time you need, Lieutenant.” she nodded and gave her team a couple of quick hand signals.

“Understood. Starting bypass now.” Tarquin focused on the task before him. He glanced back at her briefly. “And thank you for making sure I get this chance.”

“Just make it right, soldier.” Shepard ordered.

A shot was fired from a distance. If not for one of his men pacing next to him, Tarquin might have been the one who went down with the hole in his head. He cringed, but continued keying in strings of code. Shepard ran for the edge of the platform determinedly. Another man went down as she took cover behind a crumbling pillar.

“Commander!” Tarquin barked as he glanced around wildly.

“Focus on the bomb. We'll handle Cerberus.” she snapped back and vaulted over the rim of the platform.

“Detonation protocol in jeopardy.” came the mechanical tone of a Cerberus tech. “Shepard blocking access. All units engage.”

“Nobody gets past us! Clear?” Shepard's voice rang out as gunfire peppered the wall behind the turian lieutenant.

“Understood!” Vakarian shouted back from the other side of the excavation site.

Tarquin kept at the console. That bypass was crucial. He had to make it count or they were all dead. War would destroy what was left of his people, his world. The Reapers would destroy the galaxy without Shepard's influence. He refused to be responsible for that kind of mass destruction no matter how indirectly.

After a couple of moments, it grew quiet and he redoubled his efforts, running every string of code he could think of. Every hack he knew poured across the screen before him. It was old tech, but Cerberus had added new bits of programming.

“We've got company!” Vakarian shouted.

“I need more time, Commander!” Tarquin shouted and wiped at his face with one hand. Tiny beads of sweat were creeping along the bits of flesh between his plates.

Shepard did not respond, but he heard her fire off some sort of biotic blast at the men dropping from the shuttle. That was all the response he needed as he continued working. His sub-harmonics were beginning to whine faintly with the effort and the stress involved.

For every moment of silence, there were a dozen more of shouting, gunfire and explosions. Those sounds of combat shook the ground beneath his feet, but he refused to give up his own fight. Each string of code opened yet another section of program. He was getting close.

“More incoming!” that weird alien; Javik shouted after only a couple of minutes of silence.

“Need more time!” _just a little more time, that's all I need. Just a little.... seconds maybe_. He did not mean to keep shouting at her, but his anxiety level had blasted through the stratosphere.

“Just keep working! We've got this!” Shepard shouted back.

Tarquin shook his head at the sudden throbbing of his eardrum. He deserved that one. She had to know turian ears were sensitive. Only a nose-blind fool would not scent the mixture of turian-human pheromones on her and Vakarian. Even if he had been nose-blind, he still would have recognized the closeness between them. That kind of bond took time to build and in that time, one would learn things about the other.

“They're sending everything they've got!” Vakarian growled.

“We knew they would. Punch through them! We gotta make this count!” Shepard replied.

“Almost there!” the codes were finally stringing together. Most of the lockouts were open. Only a few more lines of hack and he was sure he would be through the firewall.

“Oh crap! Shepard! Atlas!” Vakarian barked.

Tarquin cringed at the thought of the mech making it past them. He needed seconds only. Precious seconds he knew he might not get.

“Take that thing down, hard and fast!” Shepard snapped and Tarquin heard boots scuff on dirt coated concrete.

That explosion really did shake the ground under his feet. It caused the screen to flicker before him and he nipped his tongue. He was too close to lose this thing now. It stabilized a heartbeat later and he breathed a sigh of relief. Another few keystrokes and he was in. “Programming the bypass now!”

The sounds of combat kept raging behind him as he stroked the keys. The bypass was quick, barely a dozen lines of code and he was through. “Commander! Firewall's down! I'm in!” his breath caught an instant later as the glitch rolled up on the screen. “ _Spirits_! Cerberus hacked the trigger mechanism! It's set to detonate!”

“Disarm it!” Shepard ordered from just below the platform.

“No time! I have to separate the trigger from the bomb! Now!” he kept stroking keys, praying that something would work. Stepping back from the console, he did not even bother to look at her as he ran for the ladder. “Cover me!”

Tarquin glanced down once as he nearly ran up that ladder. Shepard and her team were barely keeping Cerberus off that platform. It was going to be close, but he knew what had to be done. The ladder was the easy part. Running across the suspension girder was a nightmare, but he managed it. As he came to the rim of the bomb itself, he accessed the clamp controls directly.

Once unlocked, the central linchpin rose up out of the center of the device and he climbed up toward it. Gripping it, he ignored the heat rolling off it and twisted it clockwise twice before lifting it further up out of its cylinder. The clamps along the sides began to release with loud thumps and he wondered if he would have time to get clear before it dropped.

When the third clamp jammed, he knew to his core that his time was up. Growling in frustration, he ran to the edge of the device and looked down. Shepard was still holding out fairly well below him. Glancing at that clamp again, he made a decision. He ran to it and climbed over it. Clinging to the railing around the access panel, he lowered himself to it and began prying at it. It came loose easier than he thought it would.

After only a second's hesitation, he reached in and ripped the first linchpin out, tossing it toward the ground at least one hundred feet below. The clamp shifted and he clung to the railing desperately with a grunt.

“Lieutenant!” Shepard shouted at him as she glanced up and saw what he was doing. Even he, who had spent little time in the company of humans, could read the shock on her face.

“Victory... at any cost.” he said, closing his eyes briefly. He took a breath and reached into the compartment, pulling the other linchpin out. He let it go and gripped the railing, still trying to reach the top of the device before it dropped.

Tarquin Victus knew he was out of time the second that clamp separated from the bomb. It threw him off the railing and fell just above him. He hit the bottom, blue blood bursting from his mouth and half rolled, half slid down the incline at the bottom of the pit. The clamp missed him by inches. The trigger mechanism falling behind it did not.


	21. Keeping the Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keep the peace, those were her orders from Hackett, but Shepard was not exactly sure how she was going to manage that.

Shepard looked over the edge of the pit and closed her eyes. _Another victim of this damn war_. Shaking her head, she turned away from the pit. She barely noticed Garrus crouching down near the rim of that pit until he opened a compartment in the chest plate of his armor. The turian slid down into the edge of that pit a few feet and the commander had to restrain herself from rushing over toward him. The fire was already out. It had been a flash-fire without the bomb itself. Victus had made sure of that. He had given his life to ensure the alliance between his people and the krogan had a chance.

Garrus slid down as far as he safely could before he stopped and gazed at the wreckage below. She realized he was right at the edge of the ash the device had kicked up. The turian clung to a piece of rebar as he scooped up some of that ash into a small cylinder. Popping a cap on it, he tucked it into that compartment of his armor before scrambling back to the top.

Shepard's eyes were trained on him as he stopped before her. There was a streak of soot across his plated brow and his armor was covered in dust. He had barely waited for the ashes to cool before he had gone down there.

Garrus put a hand over the compartment with a nod, eyes closed. There was a deep sadness in those eyes when he opened them and looked at her. “It's only fitting Tuchanka's soil is mingled with the ashes of the primarch's son. Victus will want something to stand vigil over. This is the best I can offer him.”

The sentiment nearly broke Shepard's heart. She realized there were so many things she still did not know about her bondmate's culture. It bothered her now that she did not even know how they honored their dead. She said nothing. No words were needed as she covered the hand over that compartment. That was what she had to offer him, silent support. It was enough.

They boarded the shuttle silently the moment it dropped to pick them up. Even Javik remained unusually silent. His expression seemed thoughtful. Honestly, Shepard did not care. That particular male was no better than a thorn in her side most days. She was grateful to him for his earlier actions. If not for him, Garrus might now occupy a similar container as the primarch's son.

They were not in the air long before Joker interrupted her thoughts. “Commander, I've got radio chatter coming in from krogan forces planetside.”

Shepar glanced up, elbows on her knees and hands clasped together. She said nothing, only squeezed her hands together and listened to the creak of the flex-mesh. Her mind remained blank purposely.

“Sounds like they started sweeping out the remaining Cerberus troops. Hate to be the guy who told the krogan about that surprise package.” Joker tried to make lite of the subject. “You get out alright? Sounds like it got ugly down there.”

Finally she looked up at the ceiling, a sense of dread filling her. The last sentence was very quiet. “The turians took a lot of casualties, Joker. The primarch's son included.”

“Understood, Commander. Joker out.” the Normandy's pilot sounded suddenly respectful and subdued.

“He never hesitated.” Garrus said quietly as he stood before her. “Whatever he was before, he'll be remembered for this.”

“What will your people think about this, Garrus?” Shepard locked eyes with him and asked softly.

“Hard to say. Sacrifice in war is expected. He did us proud, but... we're a hard bunch to please.” Garrus locked eyes with her for a moment before glancing off toward a bulkhead. “Living your life for the cause, society first, platoon first. It's all just expected.”

“He did what he had to when it counted...” Shepard understood sacrifice better than her bondmate knew. She might never tell him those final thoughts she had carried into the darkness with her among the debris of the SR-1.

“Yes.” Garrus nodded, glancing at her once before returning his gaze to that bulkhead. “Yes, he did.”

The rest of the shuttle ride was silent. Garrus remained on his feet, but moved as close to her as the personnel strap would allow. His other much larger hand found hers and simply held it. He seemed reluctant to release it even after the shuttle settled in the Normandy's bay. They headed toward the elevator together and she watched the emotions cycle through his subtle expressions. She knew what he meant to do and she knew why. He had been a C-Sec officer, a cop for want of a better term. It must feel like his responsibility to deliver the news and the canister of ashes he had collected.

The ride up to the command deck was silent, only the sound of their breath filled the small compartment. The turian did not release her hand until they had entered the War Room. She nodded to him as she headed on toward the QEC. Glancing back, she saw him stop before the primarch and withdraw the canister from that compartment in his armor. The last she saw of them was the primarch stagger and catch himself on the rim of the Crucible display, a pained look set across his facial plates.

“Good job on Tuchanka, Commander.” Hackett said the moment his image resolved itself through the comm. “Stopping that bomb prevented a possible war between the turians and the krogan. We can't afford that kind of division right now.”

“Joker said the krogan are recovering the bomb.” Shepard said, it was more a question than a statement.

“They moved in. Won't allow the turians to send in recovery crews to help.” Hackett explained.

“Understandable.” Shepard said, glancing sideways at him.

“The situation is fragile at the moment. With Wrex _and_ the primarch on board the Normandy, you've got a situation brewing. We don't have a solid alliance between those two yet. _Keep the peace_ , Commander. That's an order.”

“Yes, sir.” Shepard nodded tiredly. She had every intention of keeping the peace no matter how fragile it might be.

The admiral nodded, a stern look on his face. “Hackett out."

Shepard would have remained there for a moment, but the raised turian and krogan voices in the War Room behind her drew her out. She glared at the two of them as they argued on the other side of dais the Crucible's holographic diagram hovered over. _And so it begins._ The thought was little better than a silent growl.

“We couldn't risk another galactic war with the krogan!” Victus snapped at the krogan in his face.

“The genophage wasn't _enough_? You had to plant a _bomb_ on my planet?” Wrex' voice was dangerously soft.

“The decision was made hundreds of years ago. So much has changed.” Victus reminded the larger male.

“Not enough to tell us about the bomb, coward!” Wrex growled, pointing at the turian.

“Hey! Are you really gonna let the decisions of the past rip this newborn alliance apart? We have to work together if _anyone_ in this galaxy is gonna have a chance.” Shepard started walking around the dais toward them, her tone sharp as she glared at them. “ _Primarch_ , you had a _bomb_ on Tuchanka! And Wrex? In the turians place, you would have done the same damn thing.”

“Shepard....” Wrex began, shifting his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.

“It's _over_! His _son_ _died_ today making this right!” she snarled at Wrex and pointed at Victus to drive the point home.

“Please, Commander, it's alright.” Victus tipped his head upward slightly, his sub-harmonics thrumming low in distress.

“Yes. Fine, Shepard, you made your point. We have stronger enemies to face.” Wrex grumbled with a sneer.

Shepard knew the turian's distress was lost on him. She turned to look at the diagram of the Crucible and nodded. “We do.”

Wrex growled and turned away. She knew he would stew angrily for awhile, but at least he would not spill turian blood aboard the Normandy. There was so much animosity between those two races, she began to wonder if she could actually pull this alliance off.

“I understand your reservations before, Commander, but I hope you _now_ understand the secrecy.” Victus stated, his voice sounding rough.

“Secrets get people killed. You've learned that the hard way.” Shepard did not face him as she spoke.

“Yes...” his voice was a rough growl, the thrum of distress deepening in his sub-harmonics. “the hardest lesson I'm ever to learn, ….Commander.”

Shepard glanced at him for a moment. His eyes were closed, squeezed shut for a second before he glanced off at the display. He looked back to her before turning and walking up the stairs toward the door leading out of the War Room. On his way, he grabbed the slender canister from his console near the door and gripped it in both hands against his chest. Turning back, he looked down at her, then glanced toward Wrex.

“My son... he died with the respect of his men. I wanted to thank you for that. His sacrifice will be recorded in the histories of the Ninth Platoon, something any father would be proud of.” he nodded and walked out that door.

“Yes, sir.” Shepard said softly to his retreating form.


	22. Comfortably Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus didn't expect the port lounge to become so crowded as he sat nursing the glass of horosk before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought we'd have some fun with a drunk or two after all the angst.

Garrus was sitting at the bar counter in the port lounge when Shepard found him. He had forgotten how hard it was to tell someone a family member had been killed. The moment he had handed that canister to Victus, he knew he never wanted to personally deliver that kind of news again. His retreat from the room had been closer to a jog than he cared to admit.

“That was a commendable thing you did back there.” Shepard said softly as she stepped around the counter to rummage through the supply of alcohol.

“Yeah...” there was a faint catch in his voice as he nodded, eyes locked on his third round of horosk.

Shepard raised up and planted her hands on the counter before him. He could feel her eyes on him, but he did not look up at her. “You ok?”

“I... uh.... I.... don't know. I mean....” he let out a tired sigh and pressed the pads of his thumb and forefinger into his eyes briefly. “can you really be ok telling a _friend_ something like _that_? _Should_ I be?”

“I guess not. If you were, then you might have lost some essential part of who you are....” Shepard answered.

“Sometimes,.... I almost think..... I'm losing my soul..... to this war.....” he admitted and finally locked eyes with her.

“Hey, you're still the turian I fell in love with.” she reached across the counter and ran her hand over his scarred mandible. She shook her head after a moment and dropped her eyes, her voice barely more than a whisper. “It's _me_ I'm worry about. Cerberus did _so_ much to me..... and that hand print.... I just don't know.”

“We'll figure it out, Shepard.” he gently gripped her hand as he searched her face. He could see the concern in her eyes and the slightly deepening lines between her brows. “Whatever else they did, they didn't change who you are. I'd _know_ if they did.”

“You would...” she gave him that crooked smile he loved so much then, looking up at him from under her brows. “So... what do you say? Wanna get completely hammered tonight? I think we both deserve it after the day we've had.”

“Hmm... already half way there...” he admitted as he picked up the scalloped glass before him and tipped the burgundy colored liquor around it for her to see exactly what he was drinking.

“ _God_.... is that _horosk_?” she asked breathlessly.

“Mmmhhhmmmm...” he hummed, finally beginning to feel a bit more mellow, more at ease now that she was there.

“You really mean business about getting drunk tonight, huh?” she asked as she started sorting through the levo stuff again.

“Oh... yeah....” he had not been thoroughly drunk since Wrex had nearly pickled his brain with booze those first two weeks after the SR-1 had gone down

They both looked up when the door slid open. The primarch stopped just short of stepping inside the room and gave them both an odd look. “I'm sorry. I thought the lounge would be empty...”

The turian turned to go then, but Shepard stopped him. “Victus, wait. Come have a drink with us. The lounge is open to everyone on board.”

“I'll pour you some horosk.” Garrus offered as he started to get to his feet. Stumbling, he abruptly sat back down on the barstool.

“ _I'll_ get the glass.” Shepard said, eyeing him and he knew she was only just realizing he might have had a bit too much already.

“I had thought to drink alone, but...” the turian stepped in and allowed the door to seal shut behind him.

“Company might be a better idea tonight.” Shepard finished for him.

“Yes...” he agreed.

Garrus managed to pour the liquor into the glass without spilling it. His hands were still steady, but his balance was shot to hell already. He handed the drink to Victus and watched the male wander off toward the far corner of the room. The primarch tucked himself into a corner chair between the card table and the wall. That was where he stayed with the canister of ashes sitting on the table in front of him. At some point he had come to the counter long enough to grab an entire bottle of horosk.

It was much later when they heard the krogan's muffled voice heading toward the door. What surprised Garrus was the sound of Mordin's voice fussing at him. When the door opened again, the two of them spilled into the room. Wrex was nearly pushing the salarian.

“Come on, doc. You need to loosen up. Damn salarians, always so uptight.” Wrex grumbled and merely nodded at Shepard and Garrus.

“Not uptight. Need to work. Genophage cure close...” Mordin grumbled.

“Wrex might be right, Mordin.” Shepard let out a soft sigh, chin resting on her hands as she watched them with a lazy smile. She had moved one of the stools around to the other side of the counter, across from Garrus.

“Looks like the party's started without us.” Wrex laughed as he slapped the salarian on the back.

Shepard shifted, a little off-balance and set a clean glass down on the counter. She poured something levo into it and slid it across toward the salarian. “Come on, Mordin. Bottom's up.”

“Alcohol not appropriate now. Genophage cure not yet ready. Should be working.” Mordin protested.

“He doesn't have the quads.” Wrex grumbled and stepped up to the counter. “Got any ryncol back there?”

“Mmhm.” Shepard nodded and thumped a whole bottle of the green liquor down on the counter in front of the krogan.

“Careful with that, Wrex.....” Garrus eyed him and wondered why he was teetering sideways.

“What are you drinkin', Garrus?” Wrex asked as he put a hand on the turian's shoulder.

Garrus frowned slightly, his mandibles drawing inward as that hand seemed to push him upright. His foot slipped off the bottom of the barstool to thump onto the floor as he looked at his drink. “Hell if I know....”

“He's hittin' the horosk.” Shepard answered for him.

“You tryin' to liquefy your insides, kid?” Wrex laughed and returned his attention to Mordin. “Didn't the commander give you an order, Doc?”

“Not an order, merely a suggestion.” Mordin began, sounding a little peeved. “Which I chose to ignore.”

“Told you, he doesn't have the quads!” Wrex roared with laughter.

Mordin glared at the krogan. Garrus watched, his mouth dropping open slightly as the salarian picked up the glass Shepard had poured for him. The salarian glanced around at each of them and shook his head. A moment later, he knocked back the entire glass in one gulp. He pulled a face and let out a groan at the obvious burn of the liquor.

“Still say alcohol's a bad idea with so much work to be done.” he grumbled even as he took the next glass Shepard poured.

Garrus perked up and leaned on the counter with both arms to watch the salarian. He could not remember ever having seen one drunk. They generally buzzed on their own natural high most of the time. Some more than others. This was worth shaking off some of the alcohol his brain was swimming in to watch.

By his fifth glass, it was clear Mordin was starting to feel it. He started half singing and half humming something about a scientist salarian. The moment the doctor started leaning on Wrex and spouting parts of the periodic table in song, the giggles hit Shepard.

Garrus eyed her suspiciously and realized he did not know how much she had been drinking. He chuckled when she lost her balance on the stool across from him with a sharp yelp. His eyes widened when his own balance faltered dangerously a few seconds later.

“Oh crap!” he barked the moment he fell off the stool and landed with a bone-jarring thump on the floor. He heard Shepard dissolve into a fit of laughter before she dropped to the floor and crawled over to check on him.

“Might.... need... another tissue sample, Wrex...” Mordin slurred slowly.

“Spirits... that's why.... they don't drink.” Garrus wheezed between breathless silent laughter as the realization hit him. “They slow down...”

“You two want some privacy down there?” Wrex grumbled as he knocked back another ryncol.

“Nope... think we're good.” Shepard giggled and rolled over onto her back.

Garrus dragged himself up off the floor a moment later and reached for her hands. The words were slurred, but he did not care as he announced his intentions. “Hmm... I think it's time I took the love of my life to our... uh... our quarters.”

Hauling her to her feet, he was forced to catch her when she overbalanced and nearly fell, bursting into another giggle fit. The others stared at them both as if they were complete strangers. He realized, in a way, they were. Wrex had seen him falling-down drunk during those two weeks, but he had never seen him happily drunk. Happily drunk Garrus was completely different from a drunk Garrus who was desperately depressed and ready to die. None of them had ever seen Shepard drunk enough to really cut loose. She worried so much about maintaining her 'Commander' mask in the presence of the crew that she never thought of just how tightly wound it kept her.

“Commmme on.... ma-kee-sa....” Garrus slurred as he guided her toward the door. “Time for.... bed.”

“Garrus, it's too early...” Shepard protested, but there was no command in her tone as they both staggered slightly.

“Hmm...” he let out a purring chuckle as the door slid open behind him. “I.... uh... didn't say... I wanted sleep.”


	23. A Scientific Hangover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordin realizes drinking with Wrex might not have been such a good idea.

“Ooohhh.... by the ancients.... what did I do?” Mordin groaned as his eyes slowly peeled open. He squeezed them shut the second the lights felt as if they were scalding them.

“You were drinking... with Wrex.” 'Eve' answered him from across the room. Her voice seemed to thunder in his ears.

Mordin sighed and stayed where he was for the moment. Then he began grumbling at himself. “Drinking with Wrex, not smart. Know better. Work to be done.”

“You were singing when you came in. I would like to hear the song again.” it sounded very much like a request.

Mordin cracked his eyes open again and blinked hard as he forced himself into a seated position. The room spun dangerously around him. Rubbing his face between his cybernetic hands, he staggered to his feet from the exam bed he had clearly passed out on. There was a very good reason why he did not drink and he was being reminded of it in that very instant.

“Must calculate amino acid decay rates. Will sing later.” Mordin said quietly as he stumbled to the microscope on the far side of the room.

“You said you would when some tests were done.” Eve reminded him.

Mordin let out a frustrated sigh at that. He vaguely remembered mentioning something about that just before passing out. “Oh, better to die to a thresher maw, with shotgun blasting – roaring – raw, than to play ambassadorial games, with the blood of Shiagur in her veins... Off to fight since turians can't, with diplomats instead of krantt. But she'll be true to Tuchanka's dream, and live and die a krogan queen! For... she is the krogan queen! Hurrah, hurrah for the krogan queen! And it is, it is a glorious thing to be the krogan queen!”

'Eve' chuckled when he finished and he glanced back at her. She had arranged herself in a more comfortable position on her exam bed. After having spent several hours on one himself, he could not say they were comfortable at all. Some part of him wished he could find her somewhere else to rest, but she did not seem to mind.

“Still prefer patter songs.” Mordin muttered.

“Of course... I really had to twist your arm.” there was still a faint chuckle in her voice.

Mordin simply shook his head and went back to his work. The headache would fade soon enough. It was a small price to pay for relaxing just a little. He might protest to Shepard that he was not a war criminal, but he knew he had been toeing a very fine line. If he were utterly honest with himself and thoroughly examined everything he had done up to this point; he could not realistically claim benevolence. He had committed atrocities in the name of science and duty to prevent war. Curing the genophage he had helped modify was his atonement. He knew the only thing separating him from actually being called a war criminal was a simple label. History might view him as a monster if he did not complete the task before him. The krogan certainly would.

Losing himself in the work, he was not aware of Shepard watching near his shoulder until he nearly bumped into her. He had no idea how long she had been standing there, but the woman had an uncanny ability to sneak up on him. It was unnerving and he wondered if she did the same thing to Vakarian. He could imagine how unsettling that must be for a sniper of his caliber.

“Shepard... Eve ready for travel to Tuchanka.” Mordin said, trying not to gasp his surprise at her standing there.

“What can you tell me about the Shroud?” Shepard asked quietly.

Mordin turned to look her fully in the face and realized she was just as hungover as he was.

“Climate regulator. Counteracts radiation damage to Tuchanka's atmosphere from nuclear war.” he answered simply and then realized the rest of explanation was not to be so simple. He continued anyway, completely in his element. “Particles emitted from main tower. Form layer that mitigates ultraviolet bombardment, prevents atmospheric escape of necessary elements.”

“And your people put it up?” Shepard asked sounding just a little skeptical.

“Yes, when uplift process began.” Mordin nodded with a smile and wished he had not. His head felt as if it might just split open like an overripe melon. He continued anyway. “Demonstration of goodwill to krogan. Stabilized climate, impressed population. Combined with technological gifts, _easy_ to gain krogan support against rachni.”

“And this will facilitate the distribution of the cure....how exactly?” Shepard asked, clearly still a little skeptical of the whole process.

“Will introduce genophage cure as gaseous agent. Distribute through upper atmosphere. Affects... everything on planet. Breathed in, taking in through food and water sources. Everything effectively 'contaminated' with cure.” Mordin explained.

“And how can you be sure this will cure the entire population? There are still krogan scattered all across the galaxy.” Shepard reminded him.

“Krogan females generally remain on planet. Rarely leave. Korgan males return regularly. Ritualistic people, as you have seen. All eventually cured, just a matter of time.” Mordin had an answer for everything, at least that was how it felt. He thought he had answered whatever questions she might come up with in those few minutes.

“I'll leave you to it.” Shepard said after another moment and turned to head out of the med bay.

“Shepard... cure _will_ work. Secure krogan support for turian efforts against Reapers.” Mordin added just before she reached the door.

The commander turned back with a nod. Before she stepped through the door, she said softly. “I hope so.”

Mordin was only just beginning to understand how very important this cure really was. This was more than his own redemption, this cure might mean the difference between life and death for the entire galaxy. He could not know how far reaching the consequences of his actions might well be. It would begin with getting those much needed krogan boots on Palaven. The last reports he had seen, however, did not give him much hope of saving the turian homeworld. The Reapers were tearing through the pockets of resistance, sweeping them aside like so much dust. He hoped, for the sake of the commander's bondmate, that they were not too late.

Turning back to his work, he continued adjusting those amino acids. He had to be sure they did not decay too rapidly. Too fast and the cure would fizzle before it was ever distributed. Too slow and it might well poison the krogan and their homeworld. He could not risk that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little 'footnote' into Mordin's psyche.


	24. Calibrating a Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus gets some advice from his bondmate before deciding to step away from his calibrations for a bit to find something to eat in a quiet place.
> 
> Some minor fixes...

Garrus stood at his customary spot... calibrating the giant gun when the comm on his console pinged. He tapped the key and continued the string of firing algorithms he had been working on.

“I'll assume you didn't know about this.” Wrex' voice boomed across the comm. “My good friend wouldn't hide the fact that his people planted a doomsday bomb on my planet, right?”

“Wrex, I was just as much in the dark as you. Honest.” Garrus suppressed the sigh that attempted to escape. He was not sure he would have told the krogan about that bomb if he _had_ known. Somewhere, deep down, he knew he might have. The krogan was his friend.

“Haha... _that's_ what I needed to hear. Just making you sweat, Garrus. Wasn't sure you _could_ – you're always so _calm_.” Wrex laughed.

“I'd be happy to give krogan some lessons on _relaxing_.” Garrus said deliberately, in a smooth voice.

“And we'd be happy to feed you to a thresher maw. Wrex out.” the krogan let out another peel of deep resonate laughter at that. The joke clear in his voice.

Garrus heard the door behind him whoosh open and her scent wafted over him. It always brought a smile spreading across his mandibles no matter how used to it he was now. It was _her_ unique scent. It had become a comfort to him, almost like coming home. He could not imagine his world without that scent, without _her_ , in it. Not now, not ever now that they were bonded.

Glancing her way as she stopped beside the console, he retained that smile. “Next time, Shepard, _don't_ let him near the intercom.”

“He's just making sure you weren't keeping secrets from him.” Shepard commented.

“I don't know what turian came up with the idea, but a doomsday bomb was damned ingenious.” he said smoothly and realized almost too late it might not have been a smart assessment to make just then. At least not from the frown that pinned itself on her face. He jumped to correct the statement quickly. “Embarrassing now.. but ingenious back then.”

“Uh-huh...” Shepard simply grumbled, but seemed to let it go.

“I'm glad Wrex is taking this so well. _My people_ haven't exactly treated his kind with charity over the years.” the turian nodded as he glanced down at his work once more. Shepard was unusually quiet. He knew she must be as hungover as he was. That would explain the pinched look between her brows.

Garrus watched her step toward the railing and rest her hands on it. She looked out over the twin humps of the thanix cannon, clearly lost in thought. When she spoke, it was softer than he had expected. “Wrex has saved your life a couple of times...”

“ _More_ than a couple... yeah.” Garrus admitted as flashes of the SR-1 and the cargo bay tearing itself apart intruded into his thoughts. He shuddered and rested his hands on the edge of the console, no longer tapping keys.

“Remember that...” Shepard turned and leaned on the railing, giving him a hard look.

 _Damn... genocide was never the answer, Vakarian, you know that. She's right, Wrex is a good friend. He's saved your life... too many times. Saved it when nobody else cared to try.._. Thoughts of those two weeks after Shepard's death on the SR-1 plagued him then. If not for Wrex, he might have ended it the night they finally returned to the Citadel. He realized now, that some part of him had gone to Omega to do just that. It was a certainly that he would not now be on the SR-2, nor would he ever have had such a deep connection with Shepard. Wrex had done that. The krogan had made sure he lived through the destruction of the SR-1 and those first nightmarish two weeks after.

“You're right. That kind of thinking starts wars.” he nodded.

“And we don't need another one with the Reapers already ripping through our worlds.” Shepard gave him a small smile.

“Right...” he noted how easy it was for her to sway him to her way of thinking now, especially over something as critical as genocide. Finally, he tossed out one last opinion on the matter. “The krogan would have done the same to my people, if the roles had been reversed.”

“Yes,.... they would have...” she said and stepped forward to rest her hand on his forearm. “The cycle of hatred has to end somewhere. Why not forge a new alliance... in friendship? Show the primarch what having a krogan as a _friend_ can mean. Use that higher societal rank to set him on the right path to ending this conflict.”

It made a certain kind of sense. He and Wrex were friends, had been for some time now. All due to Shepard's influence, of course, but they had found some common ground on their own. Enough so to drink together on occasion. That meant others of their two races might make similar connections in the future if he and Wrex stood together in friendship.

After a moment, he tried to make lite of the conversation. With a laugh he asked his next question. “So... who needs their ass kicked now?”

Before she could do more than roll her eyes at him with a smile, his comm pinged again. He keyed it open and was shocked to hear the voice that came across it. This was the last person he had expected to hear from. They had spoken a bit here and there about war tactics and strategies, but nothing he thought would have piqued the prothean's interest.

“Your people would have made a good addition to our empire, turian. You are cunning.” Javik said sounding somewhat amused.

“Uh-huh. And by ' _addition_ ', you mean 'slave race'?” Garrus asked with a slight growl in his voice.

“Subservient race.” Javik answered as if it was the most normal idea in the world.

“ _Right_.... Calling it that makes _all_ the difference.” the turian breathed, desperately trying to refrain from growling at the male.

“You did not go far enough with the krogan. Either you should have detonated the bomb on the krogan world, or used it as leverage.” Javik tossed his opinion into the mix over the bomb.

“I think we were just trying to guarantee peace.” Garrus answered and began to understand Shepard's frustration with him in regards to the ease with which he had spoken of destroying an entire race. He eyed her pleadingly then and she simply gave him a smug smile with a shrug before heading for the door. _No help there, then. Guess I deserve this.._.

“A static mode of existence. Nothing changes, nothing struggles, nothing grows.” Javik grumbled.

“On the upside, we all get to live another day. Nice chatting.” Garrus snapped and cut the comm connection with the flick of his wrist. He had finally decided he really did not like the prothean. Then he realized that if he or the rest of the turian people sounded even remotely like that, it was small wonder there was still so much unrest between them and humanity.

With a sigh of frustration, Garrus pushed himself away from the console. He needed a break. His head was starting to pound again and his eyes burned. The port lounge sounded like a good idea, not for a drink, but for a change of scenery. If he opened the 'shutter', he could look out onto the void and think. Or just lose himself in the view for awhile. If Shepard needed him, she could find him easily enough. After all, there were only so many places to go on a ship the size of the Normandy.

Heading out the door and down the ramp, he realized he had yet to eat something when his stomach let out a loud rumble of protest. Changing course, he headed around the counter and rummaged around in the dextro cold-storage drawer. True to her word, Shepard had made sure there were better rations available to her dextro-based crew.

“Hmm... if she didn't keep that promise, her _mate_ might very well die of culinary boredom.” Garrus snarked to himself as he found a couple of kantog flavored ration bars. He was about to close the drawer when his eyes caught on something else peeking out of the small mountain of rations. “Oh.... yeah....”

Snatching the dextro chocolate, he closed the drawer and took a bouncing step out of the mess hall. His long legs gobbled up the distance between the mess and the lounge in a matter of minutes. When the doors whooshed open, Liara was sitting on one of the couches. The asari glanced up from her data pad with a smile. Shepard had told him once that Liara looked like a very young blue human female with a head full of tentacles, but he just did not see it. She looked like a young turian female, decided blue with short head tentacles in place of the usual filed fringe. Attractive, yes, but not his cup of kava to be sure.

Garrus had once asked Mordin what he thought of her, out of curiosity. He had described a salarian female. The same went for Wrex, except he had said she was much squishier than a battle-hardened krogan female. As the turian looked at her now, he could see some of those squishier edges himself. Her abdomen had that faintly rounded quality that a female turian presented in the early stages of pregnancy. It was an attractive quality, nothing more and nothing less. He wondered what the asari's true form really looked like for a moment as he sat down on the couch opposite her.

“How's married life?” Liara asked playfully the moment he was settled on the couch.

“Hmm....” Garrus hummed a wide smile spreading his mandibles as he worked his gloves off to get a better grip on the packet containing the chocolate bar.

“That good, huh?” Liara asked with a snicker.

“Best days of my life.” he admitted humbly as the package refused to tear. Finally he clamped the edge between his upper and lower mouth plates. It tore open quicker than expected and left him juggling broken pieces of chocolate for several seconds.

“I'm glad the two of you finally realized what the rest of us already knew.” Liara stated softly.

Garrus eyed her, one brow-plate raised slightly as he popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth. He let it roll around on his tongue for a dozen heartbeats or more, savoring the flavor. His eyes slipped closed and his sub-harmonics let out a happy trill.

“The two of you really should have tried getting together on the SR-1” Liara spoke up again.

“I... uh... I didn't know what it was I felt for her back then.” Garrus stammered slightly at the idea. Then he added with a growl. “Besides, Alenko was...”

“In the way. Yes, I know. He'd like to be 'in the way' now, if Shepard would allow it. I've blocked a number of incoming emails from him over the last few weeks.” Liara admitted sagely. She changed the subject before he could question her on that matter. “So what have you been doing since we all parted ways?”

“You know, planning war strategies, bolstering reserves, getting away with whatever I can.... and a little more.” Garrus gave her a vague rundown.

“My sources say you're a Praetor of Palaven now. Barely one hundred down the line of succession to the seat of the Primarch. How did that happen, Garrus? I'm a very good information broker, but _that_ slipped by me somehow.” Liara asked with a faint frown on her face.

“I refused to accept the rank. Didn't feel a need for it, at least not until Shepard dropped me off on Palaven before leaving for Earth. Figured if I took the rank, I might be able to make some kind of difference by the time she came back. Make some noise, ruffle some feathers. You know... cause trouble.” Garrus chuckled at the last. It was one hundred and eighty-two days he had been more than happy to put behind him. “Enough about me. What were you doing before we met up here?”

Garrus had not expected to see Shepard step into the lounge just then. His mandibles spread into a wide smile involuntarily as she did. He almost forgot he had asked Liara a question when his mate entered the room.

“Oh, you know. This and that.” Liara gave one of the most frustrating answers he thought he had ever heard.

“Come on, spill it, _T'Soni_.” Garrus said smoothly, returning his gaze to her as Shepard made her way over to them.

“Very well. I fought several explosive battles with Cerberus... I helped Shepard stop a robotic assassin on Mars... Oh, and I discovered plans for a prothean doomsday device that were buried for fifty thousand years.” there was a conceited tone to her voice.

Garrus let out a faint laugh at her tone and the nonchalant way she 'spilled the beans'. “Yeah, so just 'this and that', huh?”

“Hello, Shepard.” Liara acknowledged the commander as the woman sat down beside Garrus. He was pretty sure the asari was going to try avoiding the rest of the conversation.

“Turians on a secret mission to Tuchanka..” he shook his head, still chewing on that particular subject. “No one told me anything about it. I don't suppose ignoring the fact that bomb ever existed is an option.”

Shepard put an arm around him and shook her head. They both knew it could not be ignored. The primarch's son had been killed disarming it. That meant it was going to be written down in a big chunk of both krogan and turian histories. No way to avoid that.

“So.... Archangel.” Liara said, leaning forward and breaking the sudden tension.

“You heard about that, huh?” Garrus asked, his voice suddenly sounding subdued, even to himself.

“You sojourn on Omega generated quite a few articles... not to mention security footage. There's one thing I couldn't dig up, though. Did you really take out three Blue Suns mercenaries with one bullet?” Liara asked sounding genuinely curious.

“Nah... of course not.” Garrus breathed trying to hide the laugh under his breath. “The third guy had a heart attack. Not fair to count him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah... Chapters are moving slower today.... more dental work.... God, I can't wait till they're done. Nearly bit the hygienist the other day for lighting up a tooth.


	25. Shards of Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard wasn't stalking her crew, they just happened to be where she was going. That was her story and she was sticking to it.

Shepard was not stalking her bondmate, he just happened to be in the lounge when she entered. That was her story and she was sticking to it. In truth, she was checking in on him to make sure his hangover was not as terrible as it had seemed that morning. She had not even been aware turians could retch their guts out until he had run, half falling up the stairs to the bathroom the second his feet had hit the floor. He had tried to hide the awful sounds with the ventilation fan, but she still heard him.

When he had finally come out, the flesh of his neck looked decided pale, almost matching his plates. His breathing was shallow and she could see that flash of blue between his jaws that was his tongue licking around his mouth trying to banish what was clearly a horrid taste.

Garrus had only stood in the doorway for a moment before returning to the edge of the bed and sinking down on it. He had rolled his head around then and she knew exactly what was coming. His neck was clearly sore, probably from all the heaving she had heard from the bathroom. She cringed when it popped, amplified through the openings between his mandibles. She hated that sound with a passion. That was the only sound she could recall him making that could set her on edge. It reminded her of exactly why his neck was sore; Omega and that rocket. If she lived to be as old as Nana, she knew she would never get those images out of her mind. From time to time, she still had nightmares about it.

The moment his neck popped, he let out a relieved sigh. The tension in his shoulders seemed to relax just a fraction before she scooted up behind him on her knees. She ran her hands inside his cowl and rubbed that perpetually sore spot until his deep resonant purr rumbled around the room. It was when she relaxed and sat back on the bed that she noticed the newest bands of ink across the back of his carapace. Thin and elegant, they reminded her of turian script. She meant to ask him about it later, before they bunked down for the night.

Now she sat against him and half listened to the conversation between him and Liara. He was munching on ration bars and had clearly found something chocolate in his search. The happy trill of his sub-harmonics vibrating through his chest and sides told her as much. It was rare that he left their quarters without his armor, but today he was in civvies. She liked that so much more than his armor. Fabric was thinner, yielding and allowed her to feel the heat rolling off her bondmate in a way armor never could.

Shepard glanced over at Liara the moment her omni-tool pinged. When the asari opened it, the voice of her AI assistant came across the airway. “There is urgent news, Shadow Broker.”

“Go on.” Liara stated, clearly not expecting much.

“The population of the colony world of Tyvor has been killed.” there was no emotion in the AI's mechanical voice.

“Say.... that again....” Liara said in disbelief and Glyph repeated it verbatim.

“I don't understand. The Reapers have been taking people alive.” Liara stated as she sat forward on the couch, glaring at the small screen above her wrist.

“It was self-inflicted. When Reaper forces invaded, Tyvor's colonists detonated nuclear weapons inside their cities.” Glyph stated.

“Goddess....” Liara gasped and glanced at both Shepard and Garrus in shock.

“Spirits.....” Garrus gave a low whisper filled with a faint keening note from his sub-harmonics.

All Shepard could do was close her eyes and shake her head. _Not fast enough, not good enough, never enough time...._. She berated herself silently. If the others had known what was going through her mind, they might have worried for her sanity. If Garrus knew how badly her nightmares were really affecting her, he might come back to their quarters earlier most evenings. In fact, she was almost certain he would not let her out of his sight for a minute if he had even the slightest idea of her current mental state. Hearing news like that only made it worse. There was bound to be another nightmare soon, she could almost feel it coming.

“Their deaths would have been instantaneous, Doctor.” Glyph seemed to see a need to add a soothing thought, no matter how awful the whole idea might be.

“Thank you, Glyph. That'll be all.” Liara said quietly and closed her omni-tool. The asari stared off toward the closed door for several long moments before speaking again. “The Reapers took centuries to eradicate the protheans..... how long will they need for us? We're not as wide spread, but it could still take at least one hundred years.”

Both Shepard and Garrus had their eyes trained on Liara when she got up and started to pace. Neither spoke, they just let her work through her thought process. “It's selfish, but I keep thinking that if we fail... I'm only one hundred and nine, Shepard. I could live to see the entire cycle come to an end.”

“Only a hundred and nine, huh?” Shepard snarked, trying to change the direction of the other woman's thoughts.

Liara sighed and shrugged, glancing sideways at the commander. “I know. It must seem strange to complain about a thousand year lifespan. I used to think it was sad that most aliens lived such short lives. Maybe it's not such a privilege to out live so many... to witness so _much_ death.”

“Don't drive yourself crazy about this, Liara. We're still in the fight.” Shepard leaned forward on her elbows as she spoke.

“Only because _you're_ still driving it forward. We finally have other leaders on our side, but none will take us as far as _you_ can.” Liara stopped before Shepard and shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder how you do it.”

Shepard glanced at Garrus and took his hand in both of hers before she answered that. “I think of the people I care about. That..... helps keep me going.” Her eyes drifted back toward Liara as the words found their way out of her.

“I'm glad I'm among them. I hope...” Liara stated sounding a little self-conscious in those last couple of words.

“Of course you are.” Shepard reached out and took her hand briefly, still maintaining a loose grip on that of her bondmate. These were two of the most important people in the galaxy to her. She only hoped they both realized that.

“I feel better already.” Liara said with a smile before turning toward the door. “I should return to my office. I'm helping decode some of the Crucible's designs, or trying. I should get back to it.”

“Is Javik helping?” Shepard asked. She needed to know their prothean 'guest' was at least attempting to hold his own.

“He's been his usual _forthcoming_ self.” Liara answered sarcastically.

“I take that as a 'no'.” the commander grumbled.

“I'd trade my last one hundred years if we could resurrect just one prothean scientist. Javik is a warrior. He has no idea how to handle the kind of mathematics the Crucible is based in.” Liara shook her head in frustration. “Either way, I should go.”

Shepard smiled ruefully at the use of that particular statement. The moment the asari slipped out the door, she turned toward her mate. His eyes sparkled as he looked down at her. Even sitting side by side, he seemed to tower over her. He bowed his head to hers and rested his plated brow against her smooth forehead, eyes locked with hers. She still marveled at how easy it was for her to get lost in the depths of those crystal blue eyes. So close, she could see the faint green strands that broke that blue like the misty foam of high tide across a vast sea.

“I'm glad I'm one of those people you care about....” he rumbled softly.

“Always...” Shepard murmured.

“Until death do us part...” Garrus reminded her quietly.

“Not even then.” Shepard smiled at him and closed her eyes, enjoying the closeness for a moment. The idea of losing him to this war felt like shards of glass ripping through her heart. Realistically, she knew they were all living on borrowed time with the Reapers tearing through the galaxy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I very much enjoy grabbing tidbits of conversation from the game and mixing them around into 'better settings'. This was one of those times with the middle of this chapter.


	26. Benning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and her team hit Cerberus hard on the colony world of Benning in an effort to evacuate as many humans as possible.

Benning... Dirty, rusted and full of Cerberus' brand of trouble. That was where they were heading. The recon team sent in barely made it out alive. According to Hackett, Cerberus forces had targeted civilians, the very people they were supposedly 'recruiting' the moment that team touched down. Cerberus might deny responsibility and they might claim they were not taking people against their will. They might even officially condemn the actions of this group on Benning, but Shepard knew better. She, above all, knew exactly what TIM and his 'merry men' were capable of. In her opinion, it was all crap. She knew those people were being taken by force for his twisted experiments.

“Approaching the drop point, Commander.” Cortez stated as he keyed in a few adjustments to their course.

“Copy that, Lieutenant.” Shepard said, glancing at him, taking note of the drawn look of his face. She knew he was still suffering the lose of his husband. Eventually she really needed to check in with him on that, make sure he took some downtime.

“Fielding an avalanche of civilian SOS requests, Commander. The bulk are connected to the upper streets.” Cortez commented as he brought them in as close to the ground as he could. “Looks like Cerberus forces are pinning them down.”

Shepard wasted no time, she opened the hatch and dropped to the ground with a heavy thump as the pilot brought the shuttle close to the ground. There were power lines and towering metal hulls all around. The 'city' looked more like a collection of rusted out ship hulls in a junkyard. The dust being kicked up by the shuttle's thrusters was choking as she moved away quickly.

The moment Garrus and James dropped out of the shuttle, she glanced up and called through the comm. “Keep me updated.”

“Roger that.” Cortez said as he pulled the shuttle back into a higher altitude.

The sounds of gunfire and screams filled the streets as Shepard and her team made their way through the first building. The doors had been virtually blown off and any glass that had been in the windows was simply gone. The moment she saw the first civilian it was already too late. A Cerberus trooper gunned the woman down as another threw a grenade at James. He was the bulkiest member of her team, after all. Garrus was right. The man was a meat mountain and an easy target to aim at.

Vega jumped back and ditched behind a desk as she and Garrus pressed themselves against the interior wall. The grenade went off, shaking the building and dislodging a cloud of dust. No harm was done to them.

“The diversion is working, Commander. Civilians are on the move.” Cortez updated her.

A faint smile spread across her lips at that news and she peeked around the corner, slinging out a shockwave before she had completely registered what she was seeing. She knew there were no living civilians on this street. The men down there were Cerberus and she meant to teach them a lesson in manners.

“Up top!” Garrus shouted as he took careful aim through a shattered window at the troops jumping out an opening in the a wall across from them. A moment later he growled. “Firing high impact shot.”

The second floor of the building across from them ignited in flame the moment that round exploded among the troops still dropping from what might once have been a large window. The screams of the dying filled their ears briefly before they caught the scent of burning meat.

“Nice touch, lover.” Shepard purred at the turian before darting around the corner and running down the ramp. She wondered when he had gotten the idea to biotically charge incendiary rounds. It made for an impressive explosion.

Some of those men actually made it to the ground in once piece. Those were the ones she took on now. Her omni-blade thrust through the unprotected armpit of one man's armor while she gripped another with her biotics and threw him onto the jagged remains of a stair railing, impaling him. Normally she did not much care for hand-to-hand combat, but this 'city' was close quarters all around. She thought she better get used to the idea before she ran into a situation unprepared. Her biotics could work at close range as well as long range. It did not matter. The real trick was the timing.

This was a dance she was proficient in; the dance of death. She knew Garrus kept an eye on her every move as he and Vega moved in to assist. Where her club dancing left much to be desired, her combat 'dancing' was graceful as well as lethal. Her bondmate had mentioned a couple of times that she should attack club dancing with that combat vigor and attitude. It had yet to happen, however.

Vega's assault rifle took out the man nearest her. In reality, that weapon's fire was a little too close for comfort. She heard the distinctive growl of the turian's sub-harmonics and the thump of his feet running up a nearby ramp. There was no time to glance back at him as she struggled with the last trooper.

The thwack of armor across bare flesh drew her attention sharply. Shepard was not sure what she had expected to see, but it was certainly not Garrus stomping down on a Cerberus trooper's throat. Vega was picking himself up off the ground barely two feet away.

“What the hell was that for, bro?” Vega was grumbling as he got to his feet, a frown on his face as he glared at Garrus.

“Had to get you moving...” Garrus purred back at him as he vaulted over a railing and joined Shepard.

Vega wiped at his nose angrily and glanced around to be sure the area was secure before moving toward them. Shepard saw a faint smear of blood beneath the man's nose and turned her attention back to Garrus. She gave him a half smirk at the smug look on his face.

“You didn't....” she comment in a low voice as they moved toward the next building.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Garrus said smoothly.

“Uh-huh.” she knew full well what had just happened back there.

Aside from pushing Vega out of the way to take down the Cerberus trooper coming up on his side, Garrus had clearly attempted to knock some sense into him about that too-close shot. She would not put it past her bondmate to offer to spar with the man and really let him have it about that later.

“Upper streets are clear. Hold on, Commander.” came Cortez' voice over the comm a moment later.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Shepard asked, all seriousness once more.

“I'm tracking more civilians fleeing the city... There are Cerberus troops right behind them.” Cortez elaborated.

“Where are they?” that was the answer she needed. It would determine what direction she took next.

“Updating your NavPoint. You can intercept them there.” Cortez answered and a moment later her omni-tool pinged.

“Got it.” Shepard said to the pilot. Her next breath was directed to her team. “Let's go. Those civilians aren't gonna last long against heavily armed troops.”

Coming into the next building was much the same as their initial entrance. Another civilian went down before they could reach her. Shepard signaled her team to take up defensive positions while she dropped to her knees and attempted some quick field medicine to save the woman's life. The wound was bad, a chest shot that was bleeding just as much as it was sucking. _Lung, no way to save her without immediate evac_. All she could do was stay with the woman until the end came. It was mercifully quick as she bled out.

The civilian's death was just one more stacked up on Cerberus' doorstep. One more to fuel her anger. One more to take revenge for, she realized as she got to her feet and moved on.

Ducking down near a railing beside Garrus, she glanced over and surveyed the next zone. There were at least two shuttles across the way and perhaps a dozen troops. One of them had a gun turret he was about to set up.

“Not for long.” she grumbled under her breath as she slung out a warp at the man.

The trooper shrieked and dropped to the ground behind the railing. Shepard and her team made short work of the dozen or so troops they saw near those shuttles. As soon as silence returned to the zone, they moved on.

“I'm not letting you out of my sight.” came the soft male voice a civilian nearby.

“We're going to die!” the woman sounded absolutely terrified the moment she saw Shepard and her team round a corner.

“It's alright. They're not Cerberus.... N7... they're Alliance.” the man said calmly to the woman as he got a good look at Shepard's armor.

“We're here to help. Try to stay calm.” Shepard said soothingly.

“What... should we do?” the woman shivered in the arms of her companion, but it was not from cold.

“Just stay down.” Shepard said, looking around at the shuttles the two were hiding between. “Stay close to these shuttles. They'll offer some protection against weapon's fire. Stay here until I say it's clear.”

“Commander, more Cerberus troops headed your way. If you can keep them busy a little longer, we can evacuate more of the civilians.” Cortez came over the comm.

“You heard him, we hold here.” Shepard looked to her team and nodded.

They had not moved far from the hidden pair when a grenade landed at Garrus' feet. Shepard's eyes widened in horror as he dove for cover. It went off and threw him over a barricade with a sharp yell. There was silence for a few seconds as she glanced anxiously around the corner. For good measure, she tossed out a singularity before running and sliding into cover on the other side of that barricade. A heartbeat later, she was over it and crouching down to look the turian over.

“Crap...” he groaned and rubbed the scarred side of his head where she knew his ear pore should be. He looked otherwise uninjured.

“Can you hear me?” she asked softly, not wanting to add to his obvious distress.

“Barely... ears are ringing.” he admitted.

“Can you switch off the receptor? Follow hand signals.” Shepard suggested. She knew his hearing was at least ninety percent dependent on cybernetics since Omega. He had linked those cybernetics to his omni-tool for better volume control almost from the beginning.

“I can....” he nodded and locked eyes with her fiercely. “but I'd rather leave it on. I can deal with the ringing... it won't last long.”

“You're sure?” she asked.

“Yeah.” he nodded and glanced over the barricade to assess their situation. “Two of 'em... ten o'clock..... and a gun turret at three o'clock.”

Shepard nodded. Her turian had picked up human military jargon quickly after joining the SR-1. Now it was nearly second nature to him. So much so that she had noticed it rubbing off on some of his men on Menae.

“Everybody cool over there?” Vega called and was rewarded for it with the zip and metallic ping of gunfire.

“We're fine, James.” Shepard called the second she tossed out a shockwave to unbalance their attackers.

“Good... 'cause... you know... I don't wanna explain to Liara why you came home in a body bag, Lola.” Vega retorted as he returned fire.

“He's _really_ clueless, isn't he?” Garrus asked, his sub-harmonics trilling faintly.

“Yeah...” Shepard huffed and glanced over the barricade to open fire with her pistol on those still moving around across the way. “Guess he thinks we're a threesome.”

“Hmm... clearly he doesn't realize a bonded turian doesn't share...” Garrus grumbled, but there was a smile spreading his mandibles as he checked the heat sync on his riffle.

“Good, because I don't play well with others.” Shepard snickered and darted from cover to hit one man with a warp and put a bullet between the eyes of another.

Vega backed her up by distracting the third with assault rifle fire. Garrus took out the turret with one shot from his sniper rifle. It was clean, quick and precise.

“It's clear! Let's go!” Shepard called to the pair of civilians they had left hidden between the Cerberus shuttles.

The pair cautiously came out of hiding and stepped between Shepard and her team. She motioned them onward. It would be easier to defend them if they ran on ahead of her. That was the moment Cerberus decided to come out of the proverbial woodwork. One threw a grenade at her. It was instinct more than conscious thought that caused her to catch it with her biotics and throw it back at him. The man howled profanity and tried to duck out of the way when it hit him squarely in the chest. He blew apart seconds later.

Shepard huffed a faint disbelieving laugh at what she had just done and continued to move ahead. She was fairly certain that had been a fluke and would never happen again. Garrus eyed her curiously and she shrugged before taking out a trooper getting too close to her defensive targets.

Vega jogged on ahead and ran escort to keep the civilians moving in the right direction. The smoke bomb going off between Vega and the rest of the team was unexpected. The shots pinging off her shields and then ringing off her armor were enough to put her on high alert once more. She threw out a shockwave, angled just enough that it would not affect Vega and his charges. There was a yelp and a shot rang out before her head whipped to the side. Her hand automatically went to the stripe of fire across her left cheekbone.

“ _Dammit!_ ” she snapped, drawing her hand away from her face covered in blood and pressing herself up against the wall of the nearest building. _You're getting careless... Some of these missions are too easy. The Reapers won't make the kinds of mistakes a fully organic being will_. She berated herself as the smoke began to clear.

Garrus must have seen him first. His mandibles were pinned tightly to his face, brow-plates low over his eyes in anger as he lined up the shot and took the trooper out. The man had not even fallen to the ground before the turian was at her side. His hands gently gripping her head and tilting it so he could see the wound better.

“He grazed the bone.” his calm sounding almost brittle to her ears.

“I'm fine.” she confirmed quietly and wrapped a hand around his wrist. “We need to keep moving.”

The turian nodded and released her with a meaningful look before he turned and headed down the stairs to the lowest level of the 'city'. Shepard followed him, eyes trying to look everywhere at once. Vega had moved his charges off toward one of the lower building where they waited for them. They ran through the building and out the other side.

Shepard let loose a shockwave to her right as troops fired on them. Vega razed the left with assault rifle fire. Garrus kept running, but took out a couple of targets high up on the upper floors of the building before them with his sniper rifle. It was a testament to his skill that he could take out a moving target like that while running himself. She could not think of anyone else who could do that. _He's so deserving of the title the Council pinned on him_.

They were getting close to the LZ now, she could see it. If she had not been aware of it, the troopers would have reminded her. They redoubled their efforts to take her team out the closer they got. She did not see the bulky trooper heading her way as they started into another building. He tackled her, taking her backward over a railing with him. She hit hard enough to knock the breath out of her lungs, the heavy trooper straddling her chest. He made it next to impossible to get her next breath.

Her own hands pinned above her head with one of his, he brought his pistol to her face with the other and growled. “Time to die, bitch!”

Shepard strained against his clearly augmented strength. What he was not counting on was hers. Augmented as much as she was, her strength was enough to take down a krogan at full tilt. She had shocked Garrus more than once by matching his strength during their sparring matches both in the ring and between the sheets. This man did not stand a chance.

“ _Get off me!_ ” she growled and twisted, bucking hard enough to shift him.

The trooper lost his balance and released her hands. That was her moment to strike and strike she did. Biotics this close would affect them both and she meant to walk away from this. Her hands wrapped around his helmet and gave a sharp jerk. His neck snapped and he slumped forward. An instant later he was hauled off her and tossed aside by an enraged turian. Said turian then offered her his hand and hauled her to her feet with a pointed look.

“You're enjoying this, aren't you?” he asked her.

“Keeping you on your toes.” she chuckled and leaped over the railing to join Vega in the doorway of the building.

Garrus grumbled something her translator did not parse and she glanced back at him thoughtfully. He came over the railing a second later, gun at the ready. His shoulders looked strained from the tension he was carrying and his mandibles fluttered faintly in distress. She knew this mission needed to be cut short and soon. Her turian looked about ready to mutiny, tie her hand and foot and drag her back to the Normandy, if need be.

Vega fired off another rattling round of gunfire and waved her on ahead of him. It was clear as far as she could see. The civilians had a shot to make it to the LZ now. At least that was the hope.

“You're clear! Go!” Shepard barked at them.

“No hostiles detected in the immediate area, Commander.” Cortez announced the moment the pair made it up the ramp to the LZ. “Reinforcements are moving in to secure the evac route.”

Shepard let out a sigh of relief with a smile slipping across her face. She glanced between her team and nodded. “Good work, guys.”

“I'll pick you up at the LZ, Commander.” Cortez said sounding rather satisfied himself.

“You heard the man. Let's go.” Shepard said to her team and headed off.

Garrus was hot on her heels with Vega bringing up the rear as they jogged up the ramp toward the shuttle. _Easy mission.. too easy_. Something felt off, but she could not put her finger on it just then. The ride back to the Normandy was quiet and that worried her. Vega sat at the rear toying with his assault rifle. Garrus sat to her left. He seemed closed off, deep in thought.

The moment the shuttle eased into the bay and touched down Shepard thought Garrus would bolt out the hatch. Instead, he sat there and watched Vega leave. She stood and was heading for that hatch when she realized he was still sitting in the same spot. Stopping, she turned back to him.

“What's wrong?” Shepard asked as she stopped before him.

“Cerberus...” he took her hands in his much larger ones. “They're not going to make stopping the Reapers any easier, are they?”

“No.” she said simply and knelt down in front of him, one hand on his knee. “No, they aren't.”

“Fighting the Reapers will be hard enough....” he grumbled and closed his eyes. His voice cracked when he spoke again, eyes locked on her face. “I wasn't fast enough today..... and you nearly paid for it with your life.”

“Hey.... I trust you. Your skill and that natural speed.... those are the things I've always depended on. You rarely ever miss a beat. I bring you on _every_ mission because I _need_ you there.” this was the root of the problem, she realized. He was feeling the drag of the grind just as hard as she was.

Garrus gingerly touched the blood encrusted stripe across her cheekbone that split her skin clean to the bone all the way to her ear. It marred the blue turian script that still stained her cheek. She hissed in pain faintly, but held steady. He hastily withdrew the finger that had brushed against the wound to gently cup her face.

“This shouldn't have happened.” he rumbled softly, his sub-harmonics issuing a faint keening sound.

“But it did and I'll live. It'll be just another scar soon enough.” she squeezed his hand.

“Another reminder of how easy it is to lose you.” he grumbled almost too soft for her to hear.

Gripping both his knees firmly, she stared up at him openly. “I'm here now and I'm _not_ going anywhere. We _will_ win this thing.... I don't give a _damn_ how many troops Cerberus puts in our way. We'll plow _through_ them.... like we always have.”

“Just like old times, eh, Shepard?” he met her eyes then with a chuckle, that brittle tension finally leaving his voice as his mandibles spread slightly in a small smile.

“Exactly.” standing, she took his hand and drew him to his feet as well. “I'll contact Hackett, give him this report and see when we can put in on the Citadel again. I think we could both use some downtime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the characters kind of did their own thing here. I was just along for the ride.


	27. ETA: Ten Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard has Joker set a course to the Terminus Systems and ultimately Utukku.

“Hell of a showdown there on Sur'Kesh. Just like the old days, Shepard.” Wrex said with a smile as Shepard approached him. “Right down to _me_ pulling _your_ ass out of the _fire_.”

“I was the one with bullets flying at me.” Shepard grumbled at the krogan.

“And I gave you the _moral_ support to _dodge_ them.” Wrex snarked.

“Uh-huh.” Shepard grumbled before changing gears. It was time she found what the krogan had refused to discuss in front of the primarch. “You said one of your squads is missing?”

Wrex glanced pointedly at the primarch who was busily tapping keys on one of the consoles around the dais on the lower level. The krogan dropped his voice and gave her a few more details. “They were scouting out the rachni relay. We're heard rumors of trouble in the area.”

“Rachni?” Shepard asked skeptically.

“Thought that might get your attention. I have a favor to ask. It's big.” Wrex moved in a little closer and virtually whispered, krogan style.

“Don't tell me they're back.” she grumbled, her thoughts turning to the queen she had released on Noveria.

“All I know for sure is our scouts went silent as soon as they arrived. I've got Aralakh Company, my best unit, on standby. You give the word, and they'll meet you there.”

“I'll see what I can do.” Shepard nodded.

“Get on it, Shepard.” Wrex grumbled as he took a step back from her.

“How could there be trouble with the rachni? They were all but extinct. The last queen promised to disappear forever or be destroyed.” Shepard speculated.

“I know. I was there, but I've got a bad feeling about this.” Wrex nodded, his voice dropping again. “May not be the rachni, but maybe it is. Could be another invasion. If they're crawlin' out from under some rock, you know how bad it could get. We need to stop them.”

“Yeah... It could get ugly.” Shepard huffed and then added as if the horror of the situation was only just hitting her. “And with the Reapers...”

“It'll be a slaughter.” Wrex finished the thought.

“Joker, lay in a course to the Terminus Systems.” she touched the implant near her right ear a heartbeat later. Her voice was quiet when she gave the order over the comm.

“Aye, aye, Commander.” Joker replied. “ETA; ten hours.”

Now she understood why Wrex had wanted to keep this quiet. It could have generated widespread panic. “I'll get a team together. We need to make absolutely sure this isn't what it looks like.”

“I knew I could count on you.” Wrex rumbled with a smile as he put one big three-fingered hand on her shoulder companionably.

“Contact your team, let them know we're on our way.” Shepard said to him before turning to go.

Wrex grumbled an acknowledgment the second she started to step away. It was enough. She knew he would make good on the promise of the krogan unit. After all, this was his idea, his favor. Right now, she had some things that needed done. Not the least of those was having Chakwas take a look at the gunshot graze across her face. She already knew it had virtually split the turian script Garrus had inked near her ear. It could have been much worse. That shot could have taken her eye or even her life. Her bondmate was blaming himself for that, but he had been on the opposite side of her, several feet away, and with no way of seeing the Cerberus trooper responsible. She was not used to him doubting himself or his abilities. That was not the Garrus she knew. The reason, she knew, was his missing father and sister. There had still been no word from them. The stress of not knowing was tearing him down.

“What happened this time?” Chakwas demanded the moment she stepped into the med bay.

“Cerberus.” Shepard answered simply.

“Cerberus... of course.” the doctor grumbled and stopped before her to take a better look. “The dermal regenerator isn't going to work for that. It just isn't turned to your... unique biology since the Alliance retro-fit.”

“Do what you have to, doc.” Shepard locked eyes with the older woman.

“Sit down over there. I'm sure Eve won't mind a little company for a moment.” Chakwas indicated the exam bed beside the krogan.

Shepard did not argue as she stepped over to the exam bed. She noticed Eve was lying on her side, snoring softly. Mordin was nowhere to be seen. It was late, maybe twenty-three hundred hours. Most of the day crew were already bunked down for the night.

“I'll have to use a bio-glue compound to seal that wound. Fortunately it's not terribly deep.” Chakwas was saying as she came toward her with a couple of vials and a mixing dish. “I can't promise the tattoo will line up properly...”

“It's just stain, already wearing off. It's ok.” Shepard sounded a little sad to her own ears over that. She could only imagine what the doctor must be thinking.

“Are you going to be taking his clan colors soon then? In something a little more permanent?”

That question threw her for a minute and she had to wonder just how much the doctor knew of turian culture. “I... uh..”

“You should, you know. His clan will demand it.... if any of them have survived the Reapers..” Chakwas looked her in the eyes for a moment before going about mixing the bio-glue.

“I thought I'd contact Vega's guy on the Citadel next time we dock. Have him ink in the appropriate script around my left wrist. And... if Garrus is agreeable... have a matching band inked around his wrist to match.” Shepard gave voice to an idea that had been forming since the turian had left the ink stain on her cheek.

“That sounds like an excellent idea. I see only one issue with it.” Chakwas smiled as she gently fill the wound with the glue.

“What's that?” the commander tried not to flinch.

“Turian wrist are bare of plates, the flesh is sensitive, but you know this already.” Chakwas held the edges together and looked her in the eye again with a wicked smirk. “Garrus may turn into the biggest baby the Citadel has seen in a century the second that tattoo gun touches his hide.”

That drew a chuckle from deep down in Shepard's chest. She could not even being to imagine Garrus in that kind of state. It was possible, she supposed, but not very likely given the severity of turian discipline and control. Of course he did openly admit he was not a very good turian, regularly. _Good enough. They've hung the Praetor title around his neck. Made him their Reaper Advisor. That has to count for something_.

A moment later, Chakwas placed a bandage over the now sealed wound. “Change this in the morning. If there's any itching or burning, come back here immediately and I'll treat it.”

“Yes, ma'am.” there was a faint note of sarcasm to the commander's voice as she stood.

Sleep, that was what she needed before they hit the Terminus Systems. She meant to collect her mate from his calibrations. Dragging him up to their cabin by his fringe sounded like a good plan, if she had to. He needed sleep just as much as she did. Probably more so since turians slept so much less than humans. She knew just how little sleep he had actually been getting the last few nights. The question of his family's safety weighed heavily on him. An hour here, an hour there, far too little to maintain. He was running on sleep deprivation. That, she was sure, was the reason his emotional control was slipping so badly outside of their quarters. Normally calm, cool and collected Garrus was about to turn into basket-case Garrus if he did not get a little more sleep. Or word from his family. She intended to see that he got at least some sleep. That much she could contribute to.

The moment she entered the battery, she noticed two things; it was dim and Garrus was not there. She knew exactly where he must be after glancing around for a moment. The port lounge. He sometimes stepped in there to stare out at the void and think. She had to admit, it was peaceful in there, but that window unnerved her nearly as bad as the skylight in their quarters. Part of her knew she might eventually admit that anxiety to her bondmate.

It took her a matter of minutes to walk through the empty mess hall and round the corner to the lounge. As she drew closer to the door, she could hear muffled voices within. One of them was distinctly turian. Her guess had been right, she realized as the door whooshed open.

Javik stood near the divider between lounge and game room. Garrus sat on the couch with his back to the view of space. Shepard sucked in a quiet breath at the view of space, so open and black before her as she entered the room. She felt as if she might be sucked right out through the 'glass' in a blink.

“...everybody was fighting the rachni, trying to push them back through the relay. Finally the krogan were turned loose and stopped them.” Garrus was saying.

“I see.” Javik said thoughtfully.

“ _But_.. when the krogan _rebelled_ , we had to deploy the genophage to stop them. Wasn't the _only_ rebellion. A thousand years later, the _geth_ revolted against the _quarians_. That was a whole other war.” the turian paused and glanced up at her sheepishly as he continued. “ _Then_ along came the _humans_ – my own people tangled with them for awhile – _and now_ , on top of that we've got the Reapers. What about you?”

“The Oravores fought the Densorie. The Endorumi conquered the Vandomar, and the Zha'til turned against the Zha.” Javik stated nonchalantly.

“So.. I guess nobody really ever gets their act together.” Garrus commented with a sigh of frustration that almost seemed to boarder hopelessness.

“The Synril claimed to have found the path to eternal peace.”

“What happened?” Garrus sounded intrigued by that statement.

“The Ditakur preferred war and wiped them out.”

“I hope you guys had alcohol.” Garrus muttered at that.

“You mentioned your people fighting the humans... I do not understand. You are bonded to the commander, are you not? She is clearly human.” Javik asked, glancing her way briefly.

“Yeah....” Garrus drew the word out. “That fight was thirty-three,..... nearly thirty-four years ago. Neither of us were born yet.”

“And there is peace between your two species now?” Javik sounded as if he were interviewing Garrus, or maybe interrogating him.

“Peace, but still some.... bad blood between our two species.”

“So how is it that you and the commander came to be bonded?”

“Well.... we.... uh...” Garrus squirmed.

“Nosy much, Javik?” Shepard growled at the prothean as she crossed the room to her bondmate.

“I am merely curious. Two races, so vastly different, should not find common ground so easily.”

“Three words: trust, loyalty and love. Those are common enough among nearly all species.” Shepard set him straight and intended to say no more on the subject. Her attention turned to Garrus then. “We've got about nine hours before we hit the Terminus Systems. We both could use some sleep.”

“That's my queue. Good chat, Javik.” Garrus wasted no time in standing and stretching slightly before locking eyes with Shepard. The smile spread across his mandibles as he reached for her even before the purring tone came smoothly through his sub-harmonics. “You know..... there are _other_ things we could do besides sleep...”

“Uh-huh... come on, smooth talker.” Shepard smiled back at him and took his hand to guide him out of the room. She noticed the wide-eyed look on Javik's face as they headed out the door and nearly stuck her tongue out at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as Garrus and Shep flirt and toss banter back and forth, I'm considering giving them another smut chapter or two before the Citadel date and final push.... Thoughts?


	28. A Moment of Passion and Tenderness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and Garrus find a little time before the next mission to just be...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... there's the self-conscious writer posting long-winded smut....

The moment the elevator doors closed behind them, Garrus cupped her face in his hands. He looked the bandaged side over critically and nodded faintly to himself. Shepard could see his thought processes grinding hard in his eyes. There was something he wanted to say, maybe ask, but he did not seem to know how to put words to it. The tip of his gloved talon traced the undamaged part of the ink stain above the bandage for a few seconds before he finally seemed to come to a decision.

“I know humans generally don't go for facial markings, but.... I was thinking....” he paused, his throat working a little harder as he swallowed, his eyes locking with hers. “Well... _maybe_ we could... make the clan colors... a little more... permanent..... _somewhere_...?”

Shepard smiled at the awkwardness as much as the idea. She took his right hand, the one carefully tracing the fading ink, and gently pulled it down toward her waist as she stepped in closer. He took the hint quickly and drew her in against his chest with an intense look. That look reminded her of the predator he had evolved from. Her heart thumped against her ribs as a thrill tingled through her.

“I had an idea about that..... Wanna hear it?” she said softly as her hand came up to caress his scarred mandible.

“Absolutely.” his voice was a quiet rumble as his plated brow lowered to her forehead.

“Matching wrist tats.... to take the place of wedding rings.” Shepard's eyes were half-lidded as she gazed into the depths of those crystal blue eyes.

“Hmm... I like that idea.... better than piercing a mandible or a brow-plate.” Garrus rumbled and tipped his head just enough for his mouth plates to make contact with her lips.

Right hand slipping over the smooth fabric covering his waist, Shepard smiled at his quiet gasp. From bottom rib plate to hip crest, turian sides were virtually bare of plates. The flesh was sensitive and that was the biggest reason they had a fixation on 'supportive waists'. By this point, lighting her turian's senses up had become an art. One that she was deeply proficient in.

As the elevator opened on their level, she drew away from him with a seductive smile. It was the same smile she had given him the day she had proposed 'blowing off steam'. Some part of her had known even then that this was so much more than a physical liaison. Still, she had not know just how deep his affection had truly run.

Alenko had been the inadvertent test that proved the theory. That incident was barely a month ago now. A month, such a short time and yet it seemed so long ago somehow. He had pushed her to a spur of the moment decision and now she realized it had been one of the best decisions of her life. Bonded for life to the one man in the galaxy she trusted, respected and loved more than anyone else; that was her idea of heaven. The fact that he had agreed so quickly, and even gone through with it, still baffled her.

Drawing him toward the door to their cabin, she stopped and rested her forearms on his shoulders. A devious smile spread across her face as she locked eyes with him once more. “Wanna 'blow off steam'?”

The deep humming chuckle that resonated through his chest sent her heart racing. His voice, when it came, was an even deeper whispering purr that matched the tone of his sub-harmonics. “I thought you'd never ask.”

Tapping the sensor on the door with the side of her wrist, Shepard moved in tandem with him as they slipped inside their quarters. Garrus peeled her shirt up and stopped when he had her arms pinned in it above her head and only the lower part of her face exposed. She heard the faint growl pass through his sub-harmonics before his mouth made contact with hers once more. He was getting good at kissing, she realized when he left her thoroughly breathless before tracing a line down her neck from jaw to collarbone with his tongue. She yanked the shirt the rest of the way off and cast it aside as he relaxed his hold on it in favor of wrapping his arms around her. He was more interested in coaxing the sighs and gasps from her that he claimed were 'sweetly delicious' music to his ears.

Garrus worked his way down to the bonding scar he had marked her with during their first night together. Running his tongue over it, he gripped it gently between his mouth plates. Shepard knew it was a reaffirmation of their bond each time he did that. She wondered vaguely if it was instinctive or if he was actually putting thought into the action. He did it every time they made love, without fail. To her very core, she knew that was the right term for the intimacy that passed between them. It had been that way from the beginning. Some part of her had always known it was never about 'blowing off steam'. That had simply been her way of bridging the distance between them and moving them from friends to lovers.

A gasping sigh of deep satisfaction slipped from her as one of his hands found her breast through the fabric of her bra. During their first time, he had had no clue what to do with them. Now he teased them with a practiced skill that nearly blew her mind. Quick learner that he was, it had taken him a very short time to realize the kinds of sounds he could invoke by giving each breast a little attention.

Talons, she had learned to appreciate them as they had both learned to work without those silicone caps Mordin had first supplied. Garrus kept them neatly rounded and filed as short as was comfortable for him. They were still roughly half an inch past his finger pads. He used them now to lightly run patterns up and down her bare sides. It sent shivers through her entire body as she clung to him. Any other time that sensation would be a maddening tickle. Wound up as she was, it added to the fire burning her alive.

The moment she thought she might collapse from the sensations he was creating, he drew one of her legs up, hooking her knee over his hip crest. Garrus supported her with his other hand firmly planted between her shoulder blades. He encouraged her to wrap the other leg around his waist as well before hoisting her up and carrying her down the short set of stairs. She kept forgetting just how strong he really was. He carried her as if she weighed nothing at all.

Pressed against him as she was, she could feel his groin plates already loosening. What he claimed had once taken an hour or more with one of his own kind, took minutes for them. Her previous research had suggested arousing a male turian was a long process. The passion between them had proven the exception to that rule. The moment she began nibbling around his neck, he shuddered and let out a rumbling moan. He stumbled when his plates slipped open, releasing his erection suddenly. Any sooner and he might have missed a step coming down the stairs.

Shepard ran her fingers along the tender flesh beneath his fringe as he dropped to his knees and deposited her on the edge of the bed. His knees clicked hard on the floor, but he did not seem to notice as he buried his face between her breasts with a low whine of his sub-harmonics. He seemed content to remain right there for several beats of her heart.

After a moment, he withdrew and sat back on those high heels that never touched the ground. Eyes never leaving her, he reached up and released his visor from the node in the back of his head. Glancing around for a second, he seemed to realize he was not close enough to either the coffee table or the end tables to tuck it anywhere safely. Eyes locking on the end table behind her, he did the most unexpected thing. He handed her the visor with a nod toward the table.

Shepard could not remember him ever handing his precious visor off to her for anything. She took it without hesitation and scooted back enough to reach the table. The visor's frame was warm in her hands, warmer than she had expected since it never actually touched his face. She realized his body heat warmed it as much from close proximity as from the embedded node it stayed linked to.

Garrus followed her movements and eased himself up onto the bed as she scooted back and set the visor on the table. From the smile spreading his mandibles, she realized his idea had worked out better than planned. He carefully tugged her boots off and set them aside. Then he was tugging at the fabric of her pants as he planted one knee between hers. She took the hint and unfastened them. A moment later he had shucked them from her body and tossed them somewhere.

Shepard was left with only her underwear remaining as he hovered over her. He was still fully dressed and she found that profoundly frustrating. She took hold of that obscenely complicated closure on his shirt and worked it open with the same practiced skill he had shown with her boot laces. He slithered out of the shirt quickly and released the buckle that held the waistband of his pants before returning to caressing her.

As he moved up over her, coming face-to-face with her, she managed to release his hip crests from the deep pockets in his pants. His eyes seemed even bluer with those green strands standing out as her hands finally ran over the bare flesh of his sides. He straddled her, the natural position between turian couples, as her hands traced the ridges of his compound pelvis to those open groin plates. His eyes nearly rolled back in his head before closing as her hand closed around him. A deeply satisfied groan rumbled out of him, twined through his sub-harmonics at the contact.

Ghosting her hand over him, she made sure to gently grip him at the base first. His ridges rippled under her hand as she gripped him firmly and gave him a couple of strokes. She heard his talons slip against the bedding as his hands gripped the comforter on either side of her head. His own head bowed toward her, resting against hers. Eyes closed, his mandibles flared and fluttered faintly as his jaws parted.

This was never something they rushed through. The attention to detail was staggering. Before Garrus, she had never really had a partner who cared to make sure she was satisfied. This incredible turian firmly holding himself up over her, deeply enjoying her touch, was honestly the only person who had ever seemed to truly give a damn about her. Her past partners had shown her only a pale shadow of the kind of devotion she found in him.

His eyes opened a crack with his next sharp intake of breath. They closed again when he kissed her, his tongue slipping across hers heatedly before he raised himself up on his knees. In a matter of seconds, he had his pants completely off. She still marveled at how fast he could release all those ridiculous buckles.

The glow of the fish tank cast a faint sheen across his plates and carapace as he drew her up with him. He made short work of removing what remained of her clothing before shifting her. Drawing her onto his lap with her back pressed firmly against his keel, he helped her align them just right. This was one of the many positions that worked for them. Her knees were between his as he ever so carefully pressed himself against her entrance. The pointed tip of his erection slipped in quickly, followed by the ridged shaft in slow increments. Every one of those delicious ridges that penetrated her drew a moan of pleasure from both of them.

When he was finally completely seated to his plates within her, he simply sat there for a half a dozen heartbeats or so. Joined as they were, they both took a great deal of pleasure in the feeling of completeness that washed over them. She shifted slightly and his erection twitched in sudden demand within her. It drew a gasp of pleasure from her seconds before he began moving. She arched her back to meet his movements as one of his hands ran up her abdomen to her breast. The other rested on her hip for a few thrusts. His ridges were already hitting all the right spots within her, sending her into dizzying gasps of pleasure.

His name tumbled from her lips the second the pad of his index finger found that external bundle of nerves he seemed to love toying with. His mouth came down on her shoulder as he increased the thrusts of his hips a fraction. Her left hand gripped his right forearm as he continued the friction with his finger. He wrapped his left arm around her, hand carefully gripping the arm he clearly meant to pin. This was his way of maintaining control until he was ready to surrender. That moment would come, she knew it would, when he reached his peak of tolerance. The moment the sensations spiraled out of control for him, she would sweep him over the edge with her.

Garrus had admitted once that sex with her was so much more intense than anything he had ever experienced with a turian woman. Their first time together, he had nearly lost his mind when the orgasm hit him, or so he had told her. That had done wonders to boost her ego. From his reactions that first night, she was inclined to believe him. It was like that every time and every time she rushed over that edge with him, spiraling just as high.

His finger stuttered, her first name on his breath as his grip on her tightened. During moments of deep intimacy, those were the only instances he ever used her first name. It sent a thrill through her heart to hear her name on his whispered breath of pleasure. He allowed the momentum of their movements to continue the friction he had begun. It was enough.

That core of pleasure building between them burned so brightly through her being that she thought if she should die right here, right now, it might anchor her to him for all of eternity. Love, she knew that was what built it so much higher for both of them.

Her turian's movements began to shudder and she reached down and back to get a firm grip on his hip crests. She continued rocking with him, encouraging his hips to slow as she picked up the pace to take them over the edge. The moment the wave crested, she cried out his name and he buried his face in the apex of her shoulder. His own cry was muffled against her flesh. The faint keening of his sub-harmonics was crystal clear, however.

It was several long minutes before either of them was able to move. When they did, he withdrew from her carefully. She pivoted and flopped down on the bed facing him. His joints almost seemed locked as he crawled over her and crashed to his side. Tilting just a fraction onto her side, she pulled him close, coaxing him to rest his head on her breastbone. It would have been an awkward position with the rim of his cowl if he had not rolled toward her, practically draping himself over her. She caressed the scarred side of his face from brow-plate to mandible as he lay there blinking lazily.

 _Lazy_ , she almost snickered at the thought. _That's something I can't ever see him being_.

“En nix-ah sus....” Garrus mumbled against her chest as he let out a deep breath.

“Is that right?” Shepard murmured. Smiling, she let out a contented sigh. “I have no idea what you just said.”

Shifting his weight, Garrus rolled onto his back, tucking a pillow behind his head to prevent his fringe from grinding into the mattress. He fiddled with his omni-tool for a minute. It flickered with a funny popping followed by a sizzling sound. “This thing's on the fritz.”

“You took a pretty hard hit on Benning. I'd be surprised if _something_ didn't need looked at.” Shepard commented. She was silent for several minutes when a frown crossed her face. “You can understand me without your translator, right?”

Garrus locked eyes with her, his mandibles flaring slightly and nodded as he sat up. His omni-tool crackled once more and clearly shorted out as the holo-display flickered then vanished beneath his fingers. He grumbled with a sigh. “Kinac!”

“I don't wanna know what that was, do I?” Shepard narrowed her eyes at him.

He huffed a laugh and shook his head. His voice, when he spoke again, sounded richer with his sub-harmonics dancing through it. “Naja sus..... turu.”

“You can't _speak_ much English.” it was a statement, not a question. She was beginning to realize just how much of his sub-harmonics had been dampened by the translator.

“No.” it was a simple answer laced with rich sub-harmonics as he tapped his mouth plates.

“Oh... I get it... You can't form most of the words....” she sat up and took his wrist, examining the darkened disk of the omni-tool on the back of his hand. “How about we get a shower? Then we can check with Cortez, see if he has a backup omni-tool lying around.”

Garrus nodded, mandibles flaring. “Kix-na.”

“Shower?” she asked.

His speech was slow as he wrapped his tongue around the syllables his mouth could easily form. “Yeah.”

“Come on...” Shepard said as she scooted off the bed and took his hand. “Let's get that shower. We'll get a couple of hours of sleep after then check in with Cortez before we saddle up for this next run.”

“Hmmm....” Garrus hummed happily as he got to his feet and followed her.

Watching him for a moment, she split off toward the shelves while he went for the shower nobs. A series of happy sounding clicks and chirps issued from the direction of the shower as her turian stepped under the spray. He motioned for her to join him. After grabbing the soap she wanted, she did just that.

“Ma-kee-sa...” he let out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her when she drew in close. “En nix-ah sus.”

“If I didn't know you better..... I'd almost believe you were saying 'I love you'.” Shepard eyed him suspiciously and let a sly smile slip across her face. “So.... who are you.... and what have you done with _my_ turian?”

Garrus huffed a laugh and ducked his head to rest his plated brow against her head. A heartbeat later she found herself pressed against the wall as he nibbled his way from her jawline to the bite mark on her shoulder. Their shower evolved into another round of love making as he repeated the same phrase a couple more times. He must have felt confident enough to tell her exactly how he felt in his native language. There was very little doubt in her mind exactly what he was saying by the time they shut the water off.

“I love you too, big guy.” she whispered back to him, eyes locked to his as she stood within the protection of his arms.

That deep resonate purr she loved so much seemed to fill the room at that and he hummed softly as he tugged a towel around her. This was the most contented she had seen him since his family had gone missing. She hoped, for his sake, that they had managed to escape the Reaper invasion on Palaven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't sure how the translator bit was going to go here, but the characters insisted. Shepard can't understand much of what Garrus says without it. Turian mouths aren't really designed for English....
> 
> The bits and pieces of turian language here are mine. I've been known to write entire languages for my own characters. Bear with me here. This is what we have so far:
> 
> Turian Language:
> 
> Ma-kee-sa – beloved
> 
> En nix-ah sus – I love you
> 
> Kinac – crap
> 
> Kix-na – shower 
> 
> Naja sus turu – you really don't


	29. Aralakh Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus isn't thrilled to learn that Aralakh Company is fooling around with the rachni relay.

Garrus woke to an empty room. Moaning, he stretched and yawned, but was disinclined to crawl out of bed just then. He was sprawled out on his belly, chest pivoted just so that his keel was not pressed too firmly into the mattress. The pillow under his head was tucked just right and he wrapped his arms around it. His eyes drifted shut for a moment more until he realized he did not hear Shepard in their cabin at all. There was always some telling sound even if she was in the bathroom. He heard nothing.

“Uh... kinac...” he grumbled to himself and rolled out of bed. He was thankful to have gotten some good sleep, at least.

“You're awake... good.” Shepard said from the doorway as she entered the room. “Cortez had another omni-tool stored in the cargo bay. He says it'll be an upgrade over what you had. Chakwas is already waiting to remove the fried device and replace it with the new one.”

Garrus nodded, knowing she would not understand a thing he said. His language was so far removed from anything that had been spoken on Earth in the last thousand years that none of the humans aboard understood him. English was a rudimentary language. He could understand it perfectly well, but speaking it without actual lips was another story. Some of his people had mastered that skill, but he was not one of them. At least not yet. Given enough time spent with Shepard and he might manage it himself. After all, she did push his facial plate flexibility to its limit with that kissing thing she had taught him. He had to admit, he greatly enjoyed the activity.

“What do you say we go down to the med bay and chase Mordin out for a few minutes? Chakwas can upgrade the omni-tool implant and then we can hit the shuttle bay. We'll be arriving at Utukku in just under an hour.” Shepard sounded cheerful, but he worried she was hiding behind the 'Commander' mask again.

Nodding again, he got to his feet and opened the storage rack behind the digital display across from the bed. He pulled an undersuit from the rack and dressed quickly. His armor was still in the shuttle bay near the weapons rack. That was where he had left it after Benning.

Shepard had not just stood there waiting. She had come down that short flight of stair to him. As he fiddled with the set of buckles on his right leg, he glanced at her with widening mandibles. Her smaller hands closed on one of the buckles on his left as she started working on that side. He made short work of the closures on his chest.

The moment he was sealed up in his suit, he took her into his arms. Rested his plated brow against her smooth forehead, he shifted and rubbed his unmarred mandible against her jaw. The words that spilled from him were getting so much easier to say. He thought maybe it was because he knew she could not understand them. Maybe, one day soon, he might repeat them with an active translator. The English equivalent of those words would not be hard for him to pronounce, if he were honest with himself, but he was not yet ready to attempt them. So much emotion was attached to that statement. Surrendering to emotion was not something turians were generally taught to do. _But you're not a good turian....._..

“En nix-ah sus.” he said softly. She might not understand, but he knew she suspected the meaning of those words as they vibrated richer through the deeper thrum of his sub-harmonics.

“Is that right?” Shepard smiled up at him, the light of the fish tank dancing in her eyes. She cupped both mandibles in her hands and drew him down just a little further for a deep kiss.

“Yeah...” he breathed the word, one of the few in English he could easily pronounce the moment the kiss ended.

“Alright, big guy. Let's get that omni-tool upgraded.” she said and threaded her arm through his.

As promised, Chakwas was waiting the moment they stepped into the med bay. Mordin escorted Eve out to the mess hall. The female krogan rarely left the room without him and never strayed far. He watched the pair leave with a curious look on his face.

Without thinking, he commented on their closeness as they departed. “Nin cox-ah..... nye.”

“Oh, my...” Chakwas chuckled from her place near the exam table that held one of the regenerators. “I see what you mean, Commander. Let's get that omni-tool replaced. He's going to need that translator so the rest of us can understand him.”

Garrus gave her a sharp look, mandibles drawing in slightly before his face relaxed and he chuckled. He could have had some fun with the broken translator, but he was content with having expressed his inner most feelings to Shepard over the last few hours. It had been liberating. There was no reason to end that liberation, he knew, but some small part of him still resisted. He could not put his talon on exactly why.

Sitting on that exam table at the doctor's indication, he rested his hand on the small tray she had pulled up to it. He watched in morbid fascination as she hit the surface skin with a numbing agent and made a small incision. The tiny disk of the fried omni-tool was out in seconds. The doctor wasted no time in slipping the new disk into place and gluing the wound closed.

The turian waited as the doctor brought the regenerator up over his hand and kicked it on. For such a tiny wound, it took mere minutes. Once it was done, she smiled at him. “Activate it. Let's make sure it's working.”

Garrus tapped the disk under the skin of the back of his left hand. The omni-tool's holo-display popped up instantly. He let out a sigh of relief the moment he heard the faint buzzing of the translator kicking in. The thing worked both ways in most cases. English he understood, but if Wrex had contacted him, or Javik, he would have been completely lost.

“Ok, so the display is working, but what about the translator?” Shepard asked, there was a devious look in her eyes.

“Hmm..... It's... uh.... it's working, Shepard.” Garrus nodded as he closed the device down.

“Good.” Shepard smiled faintly at him.

“You're free to resume normal duties, Garrus. The incision site may be sore for a day or two, but that's normal.” Chakwas stated with a smile as he stood.

“Thanks...” Garrus nodded at her and stepped toward Shepard.

“We should head for the shuttle. Joker should be bringing us into high orbit any minute.” Shepard stated, locking eyes with him.

“Right.... back to the grind...” he mumbled and stepped past her heading for the door.

Silence followed them all the way to the elevator. It seemed to permeate the very atmosphere as they were sealed within it. That silence felt strained to him. He instinctively knew why; his confessions of love. She was going to grill him over the meaning of that one phrase he had repeated off and on through the night. There would only be just so long he could avoid answering the questions he knew would come.

“You're gonna tell me what it means, right?” she asked smoothly, her voice soft as she gently gripped the upper tip of his keel.

“Hmmmm.....” he hummed, his mandibles widening as he leaned back against the elevator wall. “Maybe....”

“Are you seriously gonna keep your bondmate in the dark?” she grumbled playfully.

“Mmmhmmm....” his mandibles widened a little more as the elevator door opened and he pushed himself off the wall.

“Vakarian! That's not fair!” she barked as she followed him.

“Sure it is.” he laughed and opened the weapons locker.

“Better answer her, bro. Looks like she might take your head off.” Vega chuckled from his alcove.

“No one else has her six like I do.” Garrus purred and gave Shepard a meaningful look.

“Cocky turian.” she grumbled and grabbed her own gear.

Garrus chuckled and Vega growled something in Spanish as he turned back to his workbench. He lived for this kind of banter before a mission. It reminded him of the reasons he struggled so hard to keep pushing through the hell of battle. Family; they might not be blood or even the same species, but they were all family. _Even you..._ he let out a faintly frustrated sigh as the prothean boarded the shuttle. That answered who they were taking as the third member of their team for this run, however.

Loading a heat sync into his rifle, he looked over the mods and slung it over his back a moment later. His pistol locked into the holster behind his hip crests with a solid clicking sound. The assault rifle he rarely carried joined the sniper rifle as an after thought.

Something was nagging at him about this mission, but he could not quite put a talon on what. There was a tension in the air when he boarded the shuttle behind Shepard. He could see it settling across her shoulders too. There was more to this mission than met the eye.

Waiting until the shuttle cleared the bay, he glanced at Javik briefly. The prothean sat at the back of the shuttle with a brooding look pinned across his face. It occurred to him that the male might very know what they were heading into here. He was not sure how he felt about that idea.

Stepping closer to Shepard, Garrus took a firm grip on one of the personnel straps. “Any updates, Shepard?”

“Our backup is waiting for us at the drop point. Aralakh Company, krogan commandos.” Shepard looked his way briefly before turning her attention back toward the front of the shuttle.

“That is correct, Shepard. They are an accomplished unit.” EDI offered before continuing to elaborate. “They're decisive action in liberating a colony from batarian pirates made them famous.”

“Good to hear.” Shepard acknowledged. “Other than that, there's been no word from a team of krogan scouts since they went through the rachni relay.”

“.....crap.... rachni....” Garrus breathed. That was the piece of the puzzle he was missing. Only the rachni could incite the kind of tension in Shepard's shoulders he had been seeing since they boarded the shuttle.

“Understandable. In my cycle, we used the rachni as living weapons.” Javik commented.

“Weapons?” Shepard glared back at the prothean.

“They were only animals then, without technology. Violent, but useful. When they became a problem, we burned two-hundred worlds to stop them.” Javik spoke as if exterminating the rachni justified burning worlds on such a grand scale.

Garrus stared at the male in open horror then narrowed his eyes at him. The strikes against the male just kept adding up. _One more reason to dislike him. I only needed one...._

“We don't know much, but no rachni activity has been reported.” Shepard stated as she turned back toward the front. From the look the turian caught on her face, she was reevaluating the wisdom of bringing the prothean with them.

Garrus focused his full attention on Shepard then, cocking his head slightly to the side. His eyes narrowed in thought. “It doesn't make sense. We let that last rachni queen _live_ on the condition she disappear forever. She wouldn't risk everything to start a war.”

“Just be ready for anything.” Shepard said quietly as she released the personnel strap she had been holding on to.

Cortez brought the shuttle in for a near perfect landing and Garrus followed Shepard out the hatch. Javik brought up the rear. He could not say he cared for that, but better the male was there than in his way. True, Javik had saved his plates once. He was pretty sure the male had only done that to keep Shepard from tying him to that bomb on Tuchanka.

As they filed out the opening, they heard a deep krogan voice giving quiet orders. There was no mistaking the powerhouse before them as they approached. He was big, bigger than the average krogan with bulkier muscles.

“Grunt?” Shepard asked sharply.

“Shepard! Heh! Shepard! Heh-ha-ha-ha.” The moment he heard her voice, he turned and shoved his way through his men. His deep resonate voice issued a burst of laughter as he rushed toward them. He gripped the commander's arm and lightly punched her shoulder pad companionably.

Garrus had motioned the prothean to remain where he was as the male had raised his gun threateningly. He meant to keep the krogan's blood in his veins as long as possible. The kid was practically his... step-son? Foster son? Maybe adopted son? The turian could not decide exactly what he should call him.

“What are you doin' here?” Shepard asked as she recovered from the krogan's enthusiasm.

“I could ask you the _same_ question. Didn't those _idiots_ lock you up?” Grunt said the moment he reigned in his laughter and excitement.

“They did...” Shepard shifted her weight and sighed in mild frustration. “Put me in lockdown to keep the batarians off me. Didn't want problems with the Council while they prepared for war. But the situation changed.”

“Yeah, they got bigger problems, alright.” Grunt growled, a laugh barely contained in his voice. He glanced back at his troops the instant he mentioned them. “That's why I'm out here _running_ Aralakh Company. They're tough, think their invincible. Reckless, but effective.”

Shepard chuckled and shook her head, a fond smile on her face when she looked back up at the krogan. “Sounds familiar, Grunt. How did you go from being new and unproven to your own command?”

“Heh.... Wasn't easy. When Wrex put Aralakh Company together, he needed a leader who represented the future of our species. Guess that turned out to be me since I was the strongest.” Grunt growled.

“I bet some didn't like a tank-bred krogan being in charge.” Shepard commented as she glanced around him at his men.

Garrus watched them squirm behind their commander. He could almost smell the aggression coming off them. There was no doubt there had been some objections.

“I collected a _few_ scars earning my place here. These krogan respect me.” Grunt grumbled.

Shepard tilted her head at that. “You were a pain in the ass, Grunt, but if your krogan are half the soldier you are, we might make it out of here.”

Garrus could not contain the chuckle that escaped him at that. He remembered just how much of a pain in the ass Grunt had been. The instant Shepard released the krogan, she had told him that the male had pinned her. It still sent a chill through his plates to realized that hulking krogan standing before his bondmate could have killed her. If he had been anyone other than Grunt, it might have happened.

“Heh... glad you're _here_ to crack some heads, Shepard.” Grunt turned then, a thoughtful expression coming over his face. He took a couple of pacing steps away from her as he growled out the species name. “Hard to believe this might be rachni. Seems crazy. The _rachni_. A chance to face the old enemy? Ya... Impossible to resist!”

Javik had been watching the krogan during the entire exchange. He chose that moment to speak up and more forward a fraction. “Yes... you are the one. The krogan who occupied my quarters on the Normandy. You left your mark.”

“ _What_? Who is this, Shepard?” Grunt barked out the question as his eyes traced the human woman's face.

“You shouldn't be so anxious to face the rachni. They were formidable opponents, even to _my_ people.” Javik countered.

Grunt simply glanced between him and Shepard. He nodded toward him and locked eyes with Shepard. A multitude of unspoken questions in that look. Garrus was sure one of those was 'can I kill it?'.

Shepard held up a hand to stay him. “Ask me later.”

“Meh... whatever you say.” Grunt grumbled irritably, his eyes locking on the source of annoyance once more.

“We don't know if the rachni had anything to do with this. We're here to find the scouts.” Shepard kept her hand at mid-level in caution as the krogan took a couple of pacing steps away from her. “I didn't see any sign of activity during our approach.”  
Grunt glanced down toward the commander's feet. “Agreed, but this place smells _wrong_. Like a _bad_ wound. Our scans show that the tunnels down there lead to a large central point. If we're lucky, it's a nest.”

“Sounds like _fun_. Just like old times, Grunt.” Garrus finally stepped forward, past the prothean and gave voice to the snark that was building in him. He hated spiders. They were the bane of his existence. The idea of taking a few out, no matter what kind of verbal treaty had been struck, sounded like a brilliant plan to him. _Unless there are spiders in the afterlife...... damn...._.

“Heh-heh-heh...” Grunt's face contorted into something Garrus believed was an utterly evil smile. His slow laugh confirmed that idea. The moment his turned his face toward his troop, pointed with a shouted command. “Aralakh Company – move out!”


	30. Into the Tunnels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get ugly fast when Shepard and her team realize they are about to confront Reaper augmented rachni.

“Grab what you need, Shepard. Meet me at the scout camp ahead.” Grunt looked back at her before he moved off after his troops.

“Sounds good.” Shepard acknowledged before glancing around at the 'outpost'. She looked to each of her team and nodded. “Take what you need and move out.”

The entire area looked unstable at best as she moved ahead of her team. There were a couple of structures, clearly staging areas that seemed to be teetering on the brink of collapse. Against her better judgment, she investigated them. There was no telling what the original scouting party might have left behind. Garrus had made use of a multitude of things she would have called completely useless. If he was not the best sniper she had ever seen, she might have suggested he go full tech. He certainly had the skills for it.

Glancing back, she noticed him stepping into the shelter cautiously. His footing here was not as sure as hers. The building had a very slight slant to it. She meant to make short work of this search and put them firmly back on solid ground quickly.

As she rummaged through the odds and ends near the bunks, she found very little of actual use. They grabbed what they could and headed down into a shallow gully once back outside. It did not take long to come to the rest of the krogan base.

Javik, ever the bright ray of sunshine, opened his mouth the moment the camp came into sight. “Their base has been decimated. The krogan are overconfident – it's their weakness.”

Shepard glared back at him, a wordless grunt on her lips before turning back toward the camp. She heard the exchange between him and Garrus a moment later. The urge to laugh hysterically was nearly unbearable.

“Hmm... a word of advice.... _don't_ piss her off.” Garrus stated and she heard his gloved hand clamp down on the prothean's shoulder with the distinctive creak of armor. “Better yet.... just.... shut up.”

“Do not touch me!” Javik snapped and shuffled away from the turian.

“Boys....” Shepard felt as if she was warning a couple of quarreling children.

There was silence behind her after that and she glanced back once before entering the next shelter. They had separated by a couple of feet and she rolled her eyes. They really were acting like a couple of kids. _Next time, I'll bring Vega or EDI.... maybe Liara. Javiks 'biotics' are good, but I can't have him irritating Garrus this much_.

The urge to knock Javik down a peg or two from his 'higher than thou' attitude was far too much for her to resists. “Javik, if you can't behave... I'll leave you on the Normandy next time.”

The reactions were priceless and worth every bit of the scathing look the prothean gave her. He crossed his arms, clearly angry and glared between her and Garrus. The turian had burst into a fit of uncontrolled laughter, leaning on his sniper rifle for support.

Shaking her head, Shepard heading into the next building. This shelter had a crate of mixed ammo clips tucked against one wall. There was no organization to it. The clips were haphazardly tossed into it, as if the scouting party was in a hurry to get out. She rummaged through it and found a couple of clips for her turian's sniper rifle. Glancing up at him, she held them up, tossing them to him the second he acknowledged her. He caught them deftly and tucked them into an external pouch he had clipped to his left thigh.

Once they had everything they could use, they moved on. She heard Grunt's voice once and headed toward him. The camp was too quiet. Even the krogan seemed subdued here.

“Looks like something dropped half their camp down a hole.” Grunt was saying as she walked over to him near the edge of said hole. “Their shuttle must have been lost as well. They weren't going anywhere. Doesn't matter. We're here to _find_ the rachni and _burn_ them out.”

“Alright. Let's get going.” Shepard nodded. She realized now that there was no way she was going to convince the krogan that this might not be the rachni until she had some kind of proof.

“Finally! Right behind you, Shepard.” Grunt seemed to have picked up some snark somewhere along the way.

Shepard gave Garrus a pointed look and the turian had the good graces to shrug with a widening of his mandibles. She shook her head with a faint snort and charged up the stairs into a shelter that looked much more unstable than the rest. The commander had not realized more than half of it was jutting out over that hole.

“Look out!” Grunt bellowed as the whole thing began to shift. “The whole thing's comin' down!”

“ _Dammit._...” Shepard gasped as she all but threw herself against the thin strip of metal wall between the windows.

“Shepard!” the frantic dual-tone yell of her bondmate barely carried over the rumble and grind of metal tearing on stone.

Holding on as long as she could, the metal shelter rocked and jolted over the edge until she was thrown free of it. She hit the ground hard and rolled, expecting the shelter to come down on her. It never did. The thing had lodged itself between a couple of boulders on the cliff face.

Lying there for a moment, she just breathed and looked up. The drop must have been a good fifty feet. The shelter, or what was left of it, had wedged maybe twenty feet up. She muttered to herself as she finally climbed to her feet. “Lucky, lucky, lucky....”

“Shepard! You in one piece?” Grunt's voice echoed down to her.

“Looks like we're all ok!” she called back as she saw Javik drifting down on those obscenely small wings and Garrus looking for a way down. “Keep in radio contact.”

“On our way.” Grunt bellowed.

Garrus was making his way down the cliff face determinedly. She had known turians were built for running and jumping, but rock scaling was a new one for her. The way he handled that climb down made her think he had been born to it. She admired the sheer grace in his movements for a moment.

“I still believe the turians are a hybrid race. Perhaps a kind of reptilian bird and insect mixed. This turian's movements are similar to the rachni themselves.” Javik opened his mouth again.

“Oh god..... _really_ , Javik?” Shepard snapped in disgust at him. “Do you have _any_ idea how much he _hates_ spiders?”

“I am merely making an observation.” the prothean stated.

“Save it. Better yet... keep it to _yourself_.” she growled.

“If you insist, Commander.”

Garrus made it to within ten feet of the ground and dropped the rest of the way. He crouched low on the impact and rose up, heading toward her quickly. The moment he reached her, his hands were on her shoulder and her face. The worry in his eyes had spread to every line of his face.

“You alright?” the turian's voice was calmer than she knew he felt.

“I'm fine. A little bruised, but I'll live.” she nodded as she covered the hand on her face.

Nodding, Garrus released her reluctantly. She pulled out her pistol and took a couple of tentative steps away from him and toward the tunnels. Nothing felt broken or dislocated. It was a confirmation that she was, indeed, fine.

Team following, Shepard moved on at a slow pace. She wanted no surprises to catch them off guard here. If this area really was full of rachni, she meant for her team to see them first. Those monsters were brutal. They could kill any one of them far too quickly. Losing her bondmate to the one thing he hated the most was not on her to-do list today.

As they rounded a bend, Garrus stepped up his pace and came abreast of her. He pointed with the muzzle of his assault rifle at something lying against the cliff wall. “Up ahead.... what _is_ that?”

“I see it. Not sure what it is yet.” Shepard said as she continued moving forward. As she closed the distance, the smell hit her first. She gasped and put a hand under her nose. “Grunt, got a body of a scout here. Been dead a few days.”

“Yeah? If he has his weapon, grab it. He won't need it anymore.” Grunt suggested and she got the impression it was something closer to an order.

Shepard took the flamethrower and hefted it up to her shoulder. It was much heavier than she expected, built for krogan hands. The trigger did not line up with the structure of her own hand in the least. There was no way she was going to be able to fire the thing. She had two choices; hand it off to Javik or hand it off to Garrus. The realization struck her that the prothean was not going to know how the firing mechanism worked. That left the turian.

“Here... take this.” she motioned to her bondmate and offered him the flamethrower.

Slinging his rifle onto his back, Garrus took the flamethrower and hefted it up to his shoulder with an ease she envied. His much larger three-fingered hand fit the grip and trigger perfectly. He nodded as he flicked a switch and the tiny flame at the end of the muzzle ignited. The moment he had it comfortably seated in his hands, he took point with a determined look on his face.

They moved forward a few more feet before they came to a wall of mesh-like material. Shepard saw the turian's neck pale considerably as he raised his eyes to it. His throat worked soundlessly for a moment.

“Is that.... webbing?” Garrus asked, his voice cracking faintly.

“Looks like it.” Shepard stated as she stepped forward and put a hand on the lattice work.

Garrus waited until she had stepped back before he fired a short burst at the sticky mess. It burned down quickly enough, the flames dissipating once there was nothing left to burn. They moved forward a few more feet to a drop-off with more webbing covering another entrance.

The turian hit it with another short burst and glanced at her before moving any further. “Shepard, have I mentioned how much I don't like spiders?”

“Almost as often as you've mentioned your dislike for the cold, dearest.” Shepard pitched her voice into that sing-song tone she tended to use when amused.

“Well.... I _really_ don't like spiders.” Garrus sighed.

The commander snorted softly as she crouched down on the edge and dropped the seven feet to the level below. The turian grunted as he followed and she heard Javik grumble something about his wings being useless underground before his feet hit the ground as well.

Forced to kick on their armor lighting, they kept moving deeper into the tunnels. The flashlight strapped to the bottom of the flamethrower provided the brightest beam and Garrus moved it slowly. The light caressed several clustered mounds a little distance away. Their feet kicked up tiny plumes of dust as they moved.

“Did..... you see.... that?” the turian's voice sounded high and strained as something ran across in front of them, low to the ground.

“Movement. Stay sharp, people.” Shepard said quietly.

“I see something!” Javik snapped and pointed toward one cluster of mounds as they moved closer.

“Yeah..... what is that?” Shepard asked curiously as she moved closer to the nearest object.

“Crap!” Garrus exclaimed and grabbed the back of her armored collar, hauling her back away from the pod as it popped open. “Rachni pods!”

The second she was out of direct danger, he cut loose a steady stream of flames on the pods. They burst, spilling their occupants across the tunnel floor. He did not stop until the last of the rachni hatchlings were burnt to a crisp. The smell was ungodly, like burning dog hair and rotting flesh mixed with charred barbecue sauce.

“We need to be cautious. They're dangerous.” Javik stated, sounding far too calm.

“You _think_?” Shepard growled at the prothean. _God, when did he become such a fucking genius_? She realized she might ask herself that very sarcastic question a few more times through this mission.

As they moved on ahead, she began to notice glowing patches along the walls and ceiling. Lichen of some sort and there was water in a crevasse below with glowing denizens as well. She suspected they might be some sort of fish. It was not long before they came across a coil of cords running along the floor.

“Those cords, Shepard. They look like Reaper tech.” Garrus confirmed what she had suspected.

“Maybe...” she still had to maintain a reasonable doubt, for her own sanity if nothing else. She could not abide the idea that the Reapers might have corrupted the rachni. Ultimately, that would be her fault if they had. She had released the last queen, after all. No one else had done that.

Garrus destroyed more of those pods and burned down a couple of walls of webbing as she kept a sharp eye on their surroundings. She was not used to running backup, but for her bondmate she would manage. He was the only one of their team who could handle the flamethrower, after all. She meant to guard him with her life, if need be. That was something she would do in any circumstances.

They found another body behind a wall of web, half eaten by the look of him. His belly seemed to ripple faintly as she approached. Part of her, the more primitive part that wanted nothing more than to run the other way, shrieked at her to stop.... _right now_. She kept going, moving toward the canister near him. They needed that fuel.

The second his belly burst open a small gasp of complete and utter terror tore its way out of her chest. She stumbled backward, landing on her butt. Her arm came up between her face and the thing that threw itself at her from its meal. Like a flash of lightning, an armored turian hand came between her and the rachni hatchling.

Garrus caught the little monster and crushed it quickly before casting it viciously aside. His mandibles were drawn in so tightly against his face, she thought he must be chewing on their tips. The light and shadows cast by the flashlight on the flamethrower accentuated his features hauntingly. In that instant, he looked like an avenging demon coming to her rescue. She loved him all the more for it.

“Thanks...” she murmured breathlessly as he helped her up.

“ _Try_ to be more careful....” he said, sounding a little out of breath.

Shepard suspected it was shock that had taken his breath. She knew it had done a fair number on her own lungs. Her heart was hammering and she vowed to herself that she would not go near another body in those tunnels. Not unless she was absolutely certain it had not become a rachni host.

To the turian she simply said, “Right...”

He looked her face over critically for a moment before squatting down to retrieve the canister. She saw more movement within the dead krogan and started to mention it. Garrus stood and back away quickly, aiming the flamethrower at the body. Without a second thought, he roasted the remains and moved downwind of it.

It was not long before they came to another wall of web and yet another drop-off. After Garrus burned down the lattice work of webbing, they all dropped the six or so feet to the next level. The moment they did, they heard the screeching, clicking and scratching. Hatchlings preceded the larger ones in swarms as they virtually poured into the chamber.

“Oh. My. God....” Shepard breathed in disbelief as rachni of every size poured out of every gap, fissure and hole in the large cavern.

“Spirits...” Garrus gasped as he back into the wall behind him with a thump.

“Grunt, we got company!” Shepard called over the comm link.

“Light 'em up, Shepard!” Grunt called back with a wicked krogan laugh.

Wasting no time, Shepard pushed off the wall and ran for the nearest cover she could. There were husks running in at ground level along with the rachni horde. _This is bad. Very, very bad_ , she realized.

Garrus was right, those cords back there had been Reaper tech. The Reapers were doing to the rachni what they had done to nearly every other race in the galaxy. They were corrupting them, turning them into mindless weapons. The rachni were probably the most dangerous that they had seen so far. These monsters ate anything that moved, including each other if the food supply grew too short.

Throwing out a singularity to contain the rushing husks, she directed her team to the most defensible positions she could. Javik she sent to a higher point. His 'biotics' had the same kind of range as hers. Garrus she directed to take point. With that flamethrower, he was the best option. She was glad his training had apparently included that sort of combat.

The turian burned down anything that got within ten feet of him. The little ones that made it past the stream of fire, he stomped on. She had worried for a moment that he might cave when confronted by one of his worst fear en mass, but this was _Garrus_. Her turian was better disciplined than that. He would face his fears a thousand times over for her to prove he could cope.

The fight took minutes only. The rachni were barely more than beasts interlaced with Reaper tech. The husks were the same as they had always been. There was no organization there, only diversion and delay with a hope to kill.

The moment there was a lull in the battle, Shepard called to the krogan again. “Grunt, rachni presence confirmed. Modified and very dangerous.”

“ _Finally_ , something to kill.” the krogan growled back. “Nothing here yet. Lost a krogan to a sinkhole. Bad way to go.”

“This looks like a nest..... a really _big_ nest....” Garrus murmured as he looked around cautiously.

“The Reapers are protecting an asset of great significance.” Javik stated as they came to a cliff overlooking a large glowing subterranean river.

Shepard looked up the columns of stalactites along the cliffs and realized some of them were Sovereign class Reaper legs. She did not need to draw the attention of the others as they stepped up to either side of her. Each looked at those black jointed columns in awe and shock.

“Gods of the ancients..... We must hurry. The Reapers have burrowed into this planet and taken root.” even Javik seemed awestruck by the sight.

“Spirits protect us.” was all Garrus said in a half whisper.


	31. Tracking the Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flesh between his plates was crawling with nerves already as Garrus moved along those tunnels with the flamethrower.

Moving along through the heart of the tunnels, or at least what they thought was the heart, they came upon more of those pods. Garrus roasted them quickly. No need to risk any more of those little monsters bursting out of them to cause trouble. The flesh between his plates was crawling with nerves already.

The next wall of webbing he took down lead into a section of tunnel with several inches of that glowing blue water. His visor picked up traces of life, fish or lichen, he could not be sure. _My luck, they'll be glowing leeches with a taste for turian blood_. He kept that thought to himself, however.

Stepping down into the water, he moved through it quickly and found the way out blocked by Reaper tech. He muttered darkly as he stared at the slab of metal in the way. “Gotta be a way through this.”

“I have found something.” Javik drew their attention to one alcove covered in webbing. “Behind this web.”

Garrus turned and burned the web down as soon as the prothean stepped aside. Shepard stepped into the alcove and examined the device the moment the flames dissipated. Somehow the device reminded him of a rachni's mouth. And he tried not to cringe.

“Looks like more Reaper tech.” Shepard speculated as she looked it over.

In traditional 'Shepard' style, she whipped out her pistol and took aim at the glowing disk at its center. She fired at it and the disk went dark. An instant later, the 'door' opened as it shorted out. The turian had to give her credit. When in doubt she blew it out. His bondmate was definitely good at destroying things.

Another wall of web blocked their advance and Garrus burned it down as he had the rest. He did not expect the screeching or the rumbling or even the rain of pebbles and dust from above. Looking around, he tried desperately to locate the source. He saw the commander glance up at the ceiling and he followed her gaze. A chunk of it was coming apart.

“Shepard!” he barked, grabbing her and throwing them both out of the way.

She hit with a grunt, his arms tightly wrapped around her as the whole thing came down. He took the brunt of the impact with the ground, breaking her fall over the drop-off he had aimed for. Moaning softly, he shifted and thought he might have cracked a rib-plate from the sharp pain in his upper left side. It was worth it to keep her safe.

“Our exit is cut off.” Javik stated the most obvious fact in the complete darkness.

“Looks like we're finding another way out.” Shepard sighed in frustration before she attempted to move.

“What was that noise, Shepard? Sounded bad.” Grunt's voice came over the comm link.

“Cave-in. We're alright.” she answered as she hauled herself to her feet. Barely a second later, she reached down to the turian.

Garrus gratefully took her hand and levered himself up to his feet with a grunt. _Oh but that really hurts.._. he grumbled at himself. It had been the only way he could be sure of her safety, however. If he had pushed her out of the way, she might have been caught under the falling stone anyway. His armor had protected him well enough. He was sure it was just a bruise as he hefted the flamethrower onto his shoulder once more.

“Good. Didn't wanna dig ya out.” Grunt snarked.

“That hurts my feelings, Grunt.” Shepard said in a deadpan tone.

“Yeah, yeah.” Grunt growled.

Garrus fried a few small.... somethings along the walls as they slowly moved on. They were not rachni, he was not exactly sure what they were, but he was not taking any chances. The sore place in his rib-plates eased as he moved and he decided it was likely just bruised.

Following more cords, they came to a significant clutch of those pods. He cooked them and the little beasts that burst from them. As they moved down a slope, he glanced over the edge and could not see the bottom. That was disconcerting and he focused his attention on the path ahead. No need to encourage that kind of phobia to take hold.

“Shepard, I know what happened to the scouts.” Grunt said over the comm.

“What did you find?” Shepard asked as she moved closer to Garrus.

“They got hit hard. The leader ordered them to carry weapons deep into the caves.” Grunt sighed in frustration. “He knew the next team would need help.”

“Are you telling me they died making sure we could get into the central chamber?” she asked as she stopped before another wall of webs.

“That's what it looks like.” Grunt grumbled.

Garrus watched her face contort into an expression of regret. He thought he knew what had really triggered that; the release of the rachni queen. She thought this was her fault. He knew it might have happened regardless. Who knew how many more queen eggs were drifting around the galaxy just waiting to be found? Where there was one, there were bound to be more. It was a very simple law of nature he had learned years ago.

“This isn't your fault, Shepard.” he said quietly as they headed down a slope toward another pool of water.

“Isn't it? _I_ let her go. That was _my_ choice.” she looked around at the few eggs in their path and waved a hand toward them. “And now the Reapers are controlling them, using them against us.”

Garrus struggled to find a counter to her argument and realized he could not. She was right, she _had_ released the queen, but he refused to believe _this_ was her fault. In the years he had known her, he had never known her to make a deliberately malicious decision.

Finally, he did find the answer he was seeking and it was the simple truth. “The Reapers are a giant nightmare factory that just keeps getting worse. _They_ did this, _not_ you, Shepard.”

The turian roasted the eggs in their path as they passed under a natural culvert through more glowing blue water. Aside from the splashing of their feet, there was silence for the moment. Even Javik had chosen to keep his opinion to himself. Garrus thought that if the prothean opened his mouth and offered some derogatory comment just then, he might very well drown the male in the water they were trudging through.

The path sloped upward steeply for several feet and he kept an eye out for anything moving. The second he saw the husk heading their way, he lit it on fire. It screeched and ran by them blindly in a blaze. His mandibles flared slightly at that and he kept moving. He saw another body behind a wall of webs and though he thought better of it, he burned the wall down. Drawing near the body, he shifted it with his foot to be sure nothing squirmed within it. Only when he was sure it was safe did he allow Shepard to get near it.

The commander knelt down beside the krogan and rummaged through his armor for clips or anything useful. “Hmm... Looks like a last message. He's asked that it be delivered to an asari named...... Ereba...”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” Garrus asked quietly.

“Oh god.... this.... this is Char.” Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose between thumb and index with a faint intake of breath that sounded suspiciously like a quiet sob to her bondmate. “They were on Illium, he was shouting really bad poetry and.... I talked her into taking him back.”

“Right... I remember them now... Damn, tough way to go.” Garrus commented.

“We need to keep moving.” Shepard growled and rose to her feet.

Garrus caught the faint red rimming of her eyelids as she turned away from him. He watched her head for a cluster of pods determinedly. Before he could stop her, she let out a roaring yell and brought her fist down on one of them. It and the others around it exploded in a red burst of biotic energy. Her skills were evolving and now he knew the triggers; rage, resentment, remorse. He had seen Vanguards fire off such skills, but never an Adept. The changes were beginning to concern him on a much higher level now. _What did Cerberus really do to you?_ It was a question he had avoided for more than a year now. She was _Shepard_ , there was no question in his mind of that. But what else was she? What else had they done to her when they rebuilt her?

Shepard sagged to her hands and knees after that display for several long minutes. Nothing moved and the only sound was her quiet breathing. It was as if time itself had stood still for a collection of heartbeats.

“Impressive. I was not aware an Adept could master such skill.” Javik broke the silence.

The commander's head snapped toward the prothean and Garrus could have sworn he saw a faint red glow within her pupils then. It faded as she got to her feet. Her voice was like the crack of a whip when she spoke again. “Keep moving.”

The next drop-off lead them into a large cavern filled with pools of blue glowing water, Reaper tech and plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. It was the worst place they could have ended up. Husks came out of nowhere the moment they dropped into the water. Shepard took out some sort of barrier generator the moment she ducked down behind an outcropping in the water.

Garrus set the flamethrower aside in favor of his assault rifle the second the Cannibals appeared. They were tougher than the human husks. He did not think they would run off and fall over to roast if he set them on fire. These required something a little heavier than simple fire to take down. He was beginning to understand just how squishy humans really were, thanks to this war. It was not a concept he truly enjoyed. His bondmate was human, after all. It did not matter how many cybernetics were crammed inside her. Knowing how fragile she really was, he would risk everything to protect her. Even her wrath.

“Keep the pressure up!” Shepard barked as she climbed over the edge of the shallow reservoir.

The last Cannibal went down to a hole between its four eyes from his sniper rifle the second he swapped his weapons around. It barely got within ten feet of Shepard. He felt the need to let the snark out as it fell face first into a pool. “Scoped and dropped.”

Shepard moved a few feet away from the reservoir and clearly saw something he did not. She barked out an order as she quickly took cover. “Stay low. Don't let it get a bead on you.”

Garrus moved up to the next outcropping and nearly choked at the sight. “Crap...”

The Cannibals were easy enough to pick off, it was the large rachni with the bulging sacks and Reaper tech interlaced through its body that concerned him. It went down much easier than he had expected. He took careful aim, zooming in with his rifle's scope and fired at what he thought might be a control module high up near its head. It went down with a wet popping sound.

Shepard dropped over the edge of a short drop-off with a husk struggling to get a grip on her throat. Garrus ran to the edge and dropped after them as they rolled down an incline. He heard her grunt just before a snapping sound echoed through the cavern. His heart froze when neither of them moved for what felt like an eternity. It slammed into his keel when she pushed the thing off herself and climbed to her feet.

_Spirits, this woman is gonna be my death yet..._.. That was the thought surging through his mind when the comm crackled to life again. He allowed gravity to pull him down the incline to Shepard quickly.

“Must be getting close, Shepard. Some heavy fighting here. Tough bastards.” Grunt barked.

“Casualties?” she asked briefly.

“It's fine. Krogan fight better angry.” Grunt answered.

Shepard stepped around a corner and several pods burst, releasing their augmented occupants. She was surrounded by them as she backed up away from the rest of the pods that had not popped open. There were a couple of them crawling up her legs as she moved.

“More of those little bastards.” Garrus grumbled. He was getting damned tired of seeing 'spiders' everywhere he turned. He roasted what he safely could. The rest he picked off her and crushed.

The commander fired off a shockwave and took out a huge cluster of those pods before moving onward. Checking the gauge on the flamethrower, he realized it was probably best that she was finding an alternative way of destroying them. The tank was running on fumes. It would not be long before the weapon was rendered useless.

“The rachni usually dwell on toxic planets. This is different.” Javik commented thoughtfull.

“These aren't normal rachni.” Garrus stated and closed his eyes briefly at the thought that struck him. “I bet they're breeding an army down here. Breeding like flies... and this place is well hidden. I mean, it adds up.”

“I agree.” Shepard simply stated. “And they're throwin' everything they've got at us so we don't reach the nest.

Garrus cringed when she agreed with him on that. He had hoped she would argue that point, but he should have known better. It was simple logic that drew the comment out of him. Logic dictated that she would see the truth in the thought as well.

The walls closed in on them as they moved down a slope toward a cliff. They could clearly see a group of krogan fighting across the ravine when Grunt's voice broke through the comm again. “Shepard! We're blocked! And getting overrun!”

“Hang on, Grunt! I'm on it!” Shepard called back to him as they saw a krogan running toward a rachni near the edge of the opposite cliff.

“Move it, Shepard!” Grunt bellowed and it became clear that krogan was him. He pushed the bloated beast off the edge and backed away. A moment later, they all heard him roar. “I... am... krogan!”

“There! That's gotta be the switch!” Garrus called as he burned down a barrier of webbing and revealed yet another drop-off with another of those devices planted in the floor.

Shepard did not wait for the flames to die down as she dropped to the level of the device. She ran toward it, her gun already targeting the glowing core. One shot and it shorted out before she moved off. The door behind her dropped into a pocket in the floor.

From a level above them, Garrus saw Aralakh Company make their way into the chamber. As the troops dropped to their level, Grunt continued to hold off the last few rachni that had chased them. When the last one fell, he turned to look down at the commander. His shotgun was held in a defensive position before he turned to face the ledge.

“Thanks, Shepard. That wasn't webbing stopping us, that was Reaper tech.” the last was an actual grunt as he leaped from the ledge. He landed with a heavy thump not far from her.

“We ran into it too.” Shepard offered.

Grunt stepped up to the switch and inhaled as he glared at it. Turning back, he locked eyes with Shepard. “The rachni have backed off for now, but they can _smell_ our wounds. Any _worthy_ enemy would regroup and finish us. _Soon_.”

“We're close, Grunt. Those barriers were protecting whatever's down that passage.” Shepard said, indicating the passage she had mentioned.

“We'll dig in here, kill anything that moves, buy you some time.” Grunt said, gazing down that passage himself.

“Good luck.” Shepard said as he passed her.

Grunt turned back, a smile pinned across his craggy face. “I don't _need_ luck. I've got _ammo_.”

Shepard smiled at that and nodded. Garrus watched the bigger male head off toward his troops with an odd sense of pride. He had helped the krogan through his rite of passage, after all. According to krogan custom, they were krantt, clan. That krogan, he realized, was the son he might never have.

“Krogan! Get ready!” Grunt bellowed at his team as he hefted his shotgun proudly.


	32. Into the Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard's decisions lately have been for the good of the galaxy. Some might not see it that when with her next.

“More eggs.” Garrus grumbled, hoisting the flamethrower up to his shoulder firmly.

Shepard watched him roast them quickly after he exchanged the fuel canister for the fresher one they had picked up near the locking device. She thought she might actually be getting used to that awful smell they produced when he fried them like that. When it hit her on a blast of cool air, she rethought that idea. _Nope, just as horrible. Can't wait to get away from that_.

They had not moved off far when she came to a crawlspace. It looked like the only way in. Glancing at her team, she wondered if the two males could handle the tight space. Javik struck her as the open spaces kind of guy with those hidden wings. Garrus was the wildcard here. She realized she had no idea how he might react in such a tight space. With the rachni on the loose, it might not be good.

“There's no other way through.” she stated calmly as she dropped to her knees and examined the hole.

“Oh, you've _got_ to be _kidding_ me....” Garrus did not sound enthused by the idea.

“I will do what must be done.” Javik stated simply.

“You gonna be ok with this, Garrus?” she asked softly as he squatted down beside her.

“Do I have a choice?” he asked smoothly.

“Not really.” she gave him an apologetic look.

“Then I'll be ok.” he hummed softly.

“We'll make this as quick as possible. I'll head in first, make sure the way is clear.” Shepard laid out the plan.

“I... uh... I don't really like that idea. I should go first with the flamethrower.” Garrus suggested.

“I'm the smallest one here. It makes more sense that I go first in case the passage narrows down any further. I'm not as likely to get stuck as you are.” she tried to make it sound as logical as possible.

“You have a point, but I still don't like it.” the turian grumbled.

“Follow me when I give the word.” Shepard said before running her hand along his mandible. She smiled faintly at him then. “I promise I'll be careful.”

When he nodded, she turned and crawled into the small space. It was tight, but she managed to slither through it in a matter of minutes. The tunnel seemed to remain a consistent diameter the whole way. When she finally crawled out the other side, she stood and called back to the others to follow her. She stood on a wide ledge gazing out at the room as the turian crawled out and stood beside her.

Garrus followed her gaze a moment later. “What _is_ that?”

“Grunt, we've located the central chamber.” Shepard spoke into the comm as Javik joined them.

“Good. We got your back, Shepard.” the krogan answered. He sounded tired.

Looking around for an easier way down, Shepard realized it was drop and risk breaking something at that height or attempt something she had seen both Samara and Liara do. As an Adept, she knew she should be able to do it with ease. It was just that she had never tried.

Focusing her will, she grasped her biotic energy and surrounded herself with it before stepping out off that ledge. It was easier than she had thought it would be. The biotic field defied more than half of gravity's pull on her body as she drifted down to the next level more than twenty feet below. She turned toward her team the moment she touched down and released her biotics.

Javik did his usual fairy princess move and practically floated down on those tiny wings of his. Garrus stood up there staring at her as if trying to decide if he had actually just seen what he thought he saw. A moment later he seemed to shake himself and climbed down with the ease he had tackled the cliff with.

The second Shepard moved away from the base of that ledge, the Reaper barriers started going up. She shouted as she took off running. “Move it!”

They ran, but were still blocked by one of those 'doors' before they cleared them. She skidded to a halt before it with a snarl. “ _Dammit!_ ”

Looking around, she found the power node a few feet above them. It was a piece of cake to take it out. The moment it shorted out, the door dropped. She and her team ran through and froze the instant they looked up. The rachni queen was huge, far bigger than what she had released on Noveria.

Garrus gasped beside her and she spared him a quick glance. There was absolute terror etched into every line and plate of his face. This, she realized, might be just a little more than what he could handle. He cringed visibly when the rachni queen suddenly spoke through the corpse of a nearby krogan.

“Si...lence.” the krogan spoke for the rachni.

“What the...ff..?” the last word was cut off with a sharp intake of breath.

Shepard's head snapped around toward him, her eyes wide. If she had not heard him nearly say it, she would not have believed him capable of that particular word. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt now, that he was absolutely past his tolerance of 'oh shit'. This needed dealt with and fast.

“The... maddening sour note has ceased.” the dead krogan spoke again.

“What are you?” Shepard asked. She had to be sure this was the same queen, that she was not bound by Reaper tech.

“The last queen. We listen for the children.... they are silent, hollow. The machines come and take them to war. They die alone, silent, far away.” every krogan throat still capable of speech in the chamber joined in then.

“The Reapers did this to you?” Shepard asked, still trying to gauge the reactions of this giant creature before her.

“Yes. The sour note of the machines is everywhere.” the queen howled through those krogan.

“I let you go back on Noveria. You promised not to interfere anymore. The rachni were supposed to disappear.” Shepard stepped closer and Garrus followed her, his rifle at the ready for any trouble as he nearly cowed down into his cowl.

“We remember. We kept our promise, retreated back through the relay. We started a new home. Beautiful children. Harmony. But... the machines came. They heard our song. Their shriek of sour notes drowned us out.” the queen sounded more distressed with every word.

“They can't hurt you anymore.” Shepard soothed her. It was the only thing she could do.

“Yes, we... understand.”

“Can you still feel the Reapers? Can they influence you?” Shepard had to know. This was the question that would determine what she had to do here.

“We hear the machines, but they cannot control us. Remove this last shackle and we are free.” the queen suddenly raised her massive head up with a growl. “What? The children return. They will destroy us all. _Release us!_ ”

“We're getting movement here. A lot of movement...” Grunt's voice came over the comm just then.

“Copy that, Grunt.” Shepard acknowledged. She turned her attention back to the queen then. “Are you capable of fighting the Reapers?”

“We _hate_ the machines. We will _fight_ for our unborn children. _Release us!_ ”

Garrus stepped between her and the queen, a look on his face she could not read. “You can't seriously be thinking of releasing.... _that_.”

“If she can fight the Reapers... if she _will_ fight them, we _need_ her.” Shepard knew she was trying to justify this decision to him again. He had argued against it the first time she let the queen go. She knew he might be right, but if the Reapers could not control the rachni then there was a good chance this queen could be the greatest asset their militia might ever have.

“She's badly wounded. She needs too much time to escape.” Garrus finally relented.

“Shepard, we're out of time! We stay here, Aralakh Company dies! Is that clear?” Grunt bellowed.

“Listen up! Aralakh Company holds the rachni off while the queen escapes.” she growled at the krogan. To the queen she said, “We'll buy you some time. Grunt, fall back to our position and lead us out!”

“ _Damn_ you, Shepard!” Grunt all but roared in her ear. “I'm leaving my team. On my way!”

“I'm already damned, Grunt.” Shepard whispered when the comm link closed. She was not aware that her bondmate had heard that last until his hand closed on her shoulder.

“Commander...” Javik said in a warning tone.

“That's an _order_! She's too valuable an asset to lose!” Shepard snarled at the prothean. A glowing red line splitting open across her left cheek as she stepped toward that last shackle. Before either of them could argue further, she raised her pistol and blew out the power core in the device, releasing the queen.

“Now get us outa here!” the commander barked into the comm at Grunt.

A big chunk of the wall blew out not far from her position and Grunt stood there with an angry look pinned to his face. Stepping into a run, Shepard dashed toward him, her team hot on her heels. The krogan ran ahead, guiding them toward the way out. The screams and howls of Reaper controlled rachni trailed them.

Grunt took out a few rachni who got in their way as they fled. It did not take them long to reach a mass of resistance. Shepard nearly ran right into them before she caught herself and pressed her body against a wall out of their sight. She raised her pistol, a sour look creeping across her face as she came to a final decision. Her team, her bondmate, they were the important people here. She meant to run into that horde, sacrifice herself if she must so that they might live.

Grunt stopped her with a look, his face inches from hers. He glanced down the path and pointed. “The shuttle's down that path! I'll hold them off!”

Dropping her gun to her side, she glared at the krogan. It was only just registering what he was willing to do. This was what he had been born to do, she realized.

“Get out of here, _Shepard!_ That's _not_ a request!”

Shepard shifted, glanced back at her team and locked eyes with her 'adopted son'. She put her hand on his shoulder pad, gripping it with a shake before taking off in the direction he had indicated. It was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do, leaving that 'kid' behind. Flashes of the child on Earth she had been unable to save chased her down that path as she ran. She faintly heard the krogan's voice before he was out of earshot.

“My turn.” he seemed to be laughing at the rachni.

The moment they made it out she saw the shuttle hovering just a few yards away. She touched the implant near her ear. Her voice sounded subdued. “Cortez, we're the last ones out.”

“Copy that, Commander. The shuttle is waiting.” the pilot responded.

Garrus and Javik stepped up into the shuttle, clearly ready to be off this rock. She hung back, her heart breaking at the obvious loss of the krogan until she heard something from behind. Turning, she saw him covered in the most disgusting muck she had ever seen staggering toward them, alive.

“Grunt!” she yelled and ran toward him.

“Anybody... got... something... to eat?” the krogan asked as he collapsed into her arms.

Nearly eight hundred pounds of krogan dragged her toward the ground fast and she found she could not support him. It was Garrus who ran out to them and hefted the krogan's other arm over his shoulders, across the back of his carapace. With his help, she was able to shoulder some of the weight as they guided the massive alien toward the shuttle. Javik helped drag him inside once they were close enough. The prothean seemed a little edgy about being covered in rachni goo. Shepard did not care. This was one friend she did not have to mourn. She could see from the determined, but relieved look on her bondmate's face that he felt the same. They were both dripping goo by the time they got the krogan secured in the shuttle.


	33. The Time Capsule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After ensuring that Grunt was uninjured, Shepard decides it's time she look over the project that Liara has been working on.

Back on the Normandy, Shepard and Garrus supported Grunt as they all but carried him to the elevator. He staggered between them drunkenly. That last fight with the rachni had cost him. The commander was determined to ensure he was not critically wounded. She had already cost Aralakh Company their lives, she had no intention of costing Grunt his. They would both have to live with the consequences of abandoning that elite group of krogan to their fate. There was a slim hope that they might have made it out. _Paper thin_ , she thought bitterly as the elevator headed up to the crew deck.

The moment they entered the med bay, Mordin glanced up from his work and the plate of something he had nearby. He had clearly taken to grabbing a bite here and there while he worked. His eyes narrowed at the mess they were dripping across the room.

The sarcasm was out of him so fast it stopped them momentarily. “Rachni entrails.... how.... appetizing.....”

“Ugh...” Shepard gasped at him, rolling her eyes as she helped Garrus half drag the krogan to an exam bed. “You're disgusting, Mordin.”

“Happy to help.” the salarian smiled and went back to his decidedly squirming 'sandwich'.

Shepard swallowed convulsively as she watched him stuff the rest of it into his mouth, slurping a worm-like... something in as it attempted to escape. She turned away quickly, trying not to heave what she had eaten earlier across the floor. Somehow she had forgotten that salarians ate live worms and insects of varying types.

“You don't thinks that's gonna contaminate your work, do you?” Shepard asked with her back turned to him.

“Could be much needed breakthrough or.... disastrous setback. Either way, still need to eat.” Mordin commented.

A moment later, Chakwas entered the med bay, having been called by Garrus. Her gaze flowed over each of them, taking in their current states, and froze on Grunt. The krogan was swaying where he sat, covered it rachni goo. She glanced down at the mess they had dragged in with them, clearly not happy about that.

Shepard gave her a half smile and shrugged. The woman glared at her with a sigh and headed for Grunt. After a cursory once over, she turned back to Shepard. “He's fine, but he'll need food and soon. His metabolism is nearly twice that of a normal krogan.”

“Told 'em I was hungry.” Grunt grumbled.

“The good news is, his metabolism is beginning to slow. I believe it will reach normal levels in another year.” Chakwas stated, ignoring the mass of goo before her for a moment.

“Guess Shepard didn't hear me and Pops here.... he don't hear so good... heh.” Grunt laughed as he gripped the turian's shoulder.

Garrus' head snapped around to glare at the krogan. “...'cuse me?”

“You heard me,..... _Dad_...” Grunt barked another laugh.

“Hhhuu.... _spirits_.....” Garrus groaned, shaking his head and pinching the soft tissue beneath the bridge of his nasal plates.

Shepard chewed her lower lip in an effort to not burst out laughing. She was failing miserably as a snort escaped her. The turian peeked up at her past his fingers and her snort turned into a snicker. He openly glared at her then. She stood her ground for about five seconds before leaning on the gooey krogan howling with laughter.

Garrus sighed, tapped a couple of keys on his omni-tool and went off on a brief tirade in his native language. After several heartbeats, he clearly keyed his translator back on and crossed his arms. He waited for the fit of laughter to pass.

“Oh come on. It's _funny_. He thinks I'm 'mom'. Why wouldn't he think of you as 'dad'. You're my bondmate, after all.” Shepard was still chuckling when she saw his mandibles twitch. She pointed at him, catching the smile that was trying to break across those appendages. “See! It _is_ funny.”

“Hmmm....” Garrus hummed as the smile finally spread across his mandibles with a shake of his head.

“Feed the krogan...... and get him cleaned up....” Chakwas grumbled as she headed for the back of the med bay.

That caused more laughter to erupt from Shepard. She was not sure if this laughter was relief or hysteria, but she meant to enjoy it for as long as she could. Soon enough there would be another mission, another fight, another tragic loss. The thought was sobering and the laughter died as quickly as it had been born.

Searching her armor, Shepard produced a protein bar and handed it to Grunt. Fortunately the alien could eat the same foods the rest of her levo crew could. “Here, eat that and go shower. Chakwas is right, you're pretty gross right now.”

“Heh, heh, heh.” Grunt laughed and took the bar.

Shepard turned and headed out of the med bay, Garrus hot on her heels. After Utukku she needed a drink. Rachni bursting from krogan guts were bound to give her a round of new nightmares. She headed for the lounge hoping it was clear of crew. If not, she might well head for the captain's cabin.

As they entered, she took note of the empty room with a relieved sigh. Heading around the counter, she heard Garrus let out his own sigh of relief. He was headed for the couch determinedly.

“If I _never_ see another spider again, I'll die a contented turian. Unless they have spiders in the afterlife. Damn.” Garrus grumbled as he dropped onto the couch. “Let's hope... siding with the giant spiders again.... actually pays off this time.”

“She's with us now. You heard what she said. She can hear the Reapers, but they can't control her. We can use that, maybe track their movements.” Shepard said as she reached down under the bar for the strongest levo stuff she could find. As an afterthought, she asked her bondmate. “Want something?”

“I hope you're right about the rachni.” Garrus sounded tired as he glanced her way. He shook his head at the offer of booze. “Hmm... nearly melted my brain last time.”

Shepard snorted and found some ryncol Wrex had yet to inhale. She could only imagine what would happen if the older krogan decided to take Grunt under his wing. In a way, the very idea scared the hell out of her.

“One word, Shepard.... ' _Grunt_ '...” Garrus breathed, his head tipped back.

“Wrex is still on board.” she reminded him.

“Craaaaaap......” Garrus sighed and dropped his head to rest on the rim of his armor as he slouched down, closing his eyes.

Shepard let out a sigh of appreciation as she sat down next to the lounging turian. The alcohol she had downed before moving away from the bar was already warming her insides. Glancing at Garrus, she realized he was starting to doze. _Better get him to our quarters before he passes out right here_.

Getting to her feet, she took his hands from where he had folded them across his chest. “Come on, big guy. Let's go. Liara said something about showing me some project she's been working on. Might as well get that over with before we both pass out.”

Garrus groaned as he cracked one eye opened. Yawning, he reluctantly got to his feet. Most humans would have cringed or shied away at the sight of a turian yawn. Not Shepard. She had seen him at his absolute worst. There was an ancient film that came to mind from time to time, however. She thought it had something to do with some kind of alien warrior with a mouth like a thresher maw.

The trip to the elevator and up to their quarters went quickly. Garrus stumbled in the door of their quarters tiredly. Armor dropped along the way once he was inside. He made it to the bed and simply dropped face first. At that, Shepard did cringe. She had not expected his less flexible structure to give so much. His feet dangled off the end of the bed as he wrapped his arms around a pillow. Part of her thought they should probably have a shower before they bunked down, but her turian had been spared the worst of the goo. The undersuit he had stripped down to was free of it.

Watching him settle in for a moment, Shepard decided to head for the computer on her desk. She called Liara up after a heartbeat of hesitation. The asari had insisted that she come to her quarters for this. She wondered if the blue woman still harbored a crush on her. It was very likely that she did, but Shepard suspected that had nothing to do with the project she had been working on. A dear friend, that was how she saw Liara. It did not take her friend long to show up.

“Come on in.” Shepard said the moment she keyed the door open and found the asari waiting.

“Thank you.” Liara said as she stepped in, a shoe box sized device in her hands. “Could be sit?”

“Sure.... Garrus is asleep... so...” Shepard indicated her bondmate on the bed as she walked down to the couch and took a seat.

“Not.... yet....” a soft sigh came from the turian, but he did not move.

“I've been thinking about the knowledge we gathered on the Reapers and how easily it could be lost again.” Liara said as she knelt down before the coffee table and set the device down on it. “So, I put a plan in motion to preserve things for the future.”

Shepard watched as Liara activated the device and a bright blue beam lit up above it. She leaned forward in her seat staring at the beam. “What's this?”

“A record of the galaxy.” Liara said, getting to her feet once more as the beam resolved itself into a Sovereign class Reaper. “Information on the Reapers, relays, different cultures, and blue prints of the Crucible. But there's one entry I wanted your opinion on.”

“Which one?” Shepard asked as the asari stood there gazing at her.

“Your own.” Liara said simply as she ducked down before the device once more. She pulled up an image of Shepard herself and glanced back at her. “I'd be honored to have your input. How would you like history to remember you?”

“Fifty thousand years is a _long_ time for a computer to sit around.” Shepard stated the obvious.

“Please,” Liara said, standing once more. “I was an archaeologist. I know what I'm doing. I'm encasing these records in time capsules and seeding copies on multiple planets. And... while it's not full proof, the VI I'm installing has every translation and linguistics program I could find.”

“So it's an information guide like Vigil on Ilos?” Shepard asked, understanding dawning regarding the significance of this project.

“Yes. I've been preparing it for some time.” Liara said as she squatted down and fiddled with the device a little more.

“And it will be a privilege to guide the future discovers of these records.” Glyph said as it popped up in the center of the device. “Have you decided what you would like Dr. T'Soni to write in your entry, Commander?”

“You know me well enough to fill in the blanks, Liara.” Shepard stated.

“Are you sure?” Liara asked, the look on her face seemed a little shocked or maybe it was awe.

“Yeah. I'd like it to be your call.” the commander spoke softly with a nod.

“I'll start by saying; Commander Shepard was born on Earth, and fought harder than anyone else for her homeworld. Shepard was an _extremely_ talented biotic – and one of the most powerful fighters in the Alliance. She was a leader who knew when to be persuasive and when to apply pressure.” Liara glanced her way and continued. “And it was a privileged to know her.”

“Careful this doesn't sound like a diary.” Shepard smirked as she leaned back tiredly on the couch.

“I can't help myself. You're a good friend, Shepard.” Liara said as she joined her.

“You've been there for me, too, Liara.” Shepard meant what she said from the bottom of her heart. The asari had always tried to be there whenever she had need of her.

“No, I haven't. I wish I could have joined you back on Illium.” the woman leaned forward and could not look at the commander.

“You made up for it.” Shepard commented.

It seemed to do the trick as the asari smiled and leaned back herself. “Well, I suppose I did just write your name in the stars.”

Shepard smiled and put her hand on the asari's shoulder. “I guess you did.”

Liara locked eyes with her then frowned slightly. “I should let you rest. You look exhausted.”

“Alright....” Shepard nodded as the other woman stood and picked up the time capsule.

The moment she was gone, Shepard turned back to the bed and her sprawled out bondmate. As she came back down the stairs, the turian shifted a little. She smiled to herself at the sound of his breathing. He was close to sleep, but not quite there. Her armor joined his on the floor after a few minutes. Crawling into bed next to him, she let out a contented sigh when he shifted and wrapped his arms around her, tucking her close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a WIP image of Lilfrey on my tumblr page. As soon as she's finished, I'll post her on my Deviant page for those who are interested. 😀


	34. A Dip in the Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is having a rough day. It started with a turian reeking of rachni goo and progressed to a confrontation with an ex.

The moment her eyes slid open, Shepard realized everything around her smelled like rotting rachni funk. She wrinkled her nose at the smell and tentatively sniffed at the sleeping turian beside her. It was bad enough she coughed a couple of times before rolling out of bed.

“Alright, Vakarian, you smell like something the cat dragged in.” she grumbled as she grabbed the bottom edges of the sheet.

“Hmm... what's a cat?” he said sleepily, testing the word.

Shepard choked back a chuckle and gave a sharp jerk on the sheet, stepping backward as she did so. The turian hit the floor with a thump and a yelp. He glared at her for a few seconds before climbing to his feet.

“Ow.” he grumbled at her deliberately as he ducked his head toward hers. He held the distance by less than an inch, but there was mischief in his eyes.

“Shower.” she said simply as she began wadding up the bedding. “I'll be there in a minute.”

“Hmm...” he grumbled as he stepped past her. “I owe you for that one.”

“Promises, promises.” she snarked.

Once their shower was done, they headed for the shuttle bay. Shepard had asked Joker to set a course for the Citadel the night before. By her calculations, they should be in the Widow Nebula. She intended to see to those wrist tats before they headed back to Tuchanka. Mordin had ensured her that the cure was ready for delivery.

Shepard was checking her Carnifax pistol when James turned and gave her a funny look. He kept giving her odd looks until she finally asked. “What is it, James?”

“Rachni? Of all the things to – it's like you've got the opposite of a horseshoe up your ass.” he said sounding a little freaked out. “And Grunt? He's crazier than you.... and that's sayin' somethin'. You're better lookin', at least.”

“Thanks.... I think.” Shepard glared at him for a minute.

“So what are we hittin' the Citadel this time for anyway?” James asked.

“A thermal coupling.” Shepard answered with a faint sigh. There were a number of other things she intended to do while there as well. Her eyes drifted toward Garrus with that thought. Glancing back at James, she decided now was as good a time as any. “Do me a favor, James...”

“What do you need, Lola?” James put down the cleaning rag he had been wiping down his gun with.

“Contact your tattoo guy.” she said simply.

“Ooooh....” the big man laughed and picked the rag backup, wiping them on it. “You finally gonna go for that N7 tat?”

“Something like that.” she nodded with a smile.

“You got it. I'll let him know you're comin'.” Vega continued smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

Nodding, she stepped away from him and stopped beside Garrus briefly. “You ready for this?”

“Routine stop-over....” Garrus eyed her suspiciously then. “Unless.... you're expecting trouble....”

“Just a little ink. You know, the ink we agreed on?” she reminded him.

“Hmmm...” the turian's mandibles spread slightly in a smile as those crystal blue eyes locked with hers from under his plated brow. He said simply. “Thought you forgot about that.”

“Uh-huh, you're not gettin' off the hook that easily.” she smiled back at him.

“Wouldn't dream of trying.” he tucked his pistol into its holster and continued. “Turians normal pierce a plate somewhere to represent bonding..... At least, when there's no bonding mark. Wasn't looking forward to that idea. Ink.... I can handle a little more ink.”

“This won't be like the ink on your face plates.” Shepard reminded him as they stepped inside the shuttle.

“Mmhmm.... I'm aware of that, Shepard.” he stopped before a seat and turned toward her. Cupping her face in one hand, he nodded seemingly more to himself than her. His voice was low, more sub-harmonics than actual speech. “Anything for the love of my life.”

Smiling, she took her seat and he locked his hand with hers before taking a seat right next to her. The influx of refugees had generated enough traffic around the docking bays that shuttles were almost mandatory by this point. Fortunately, there were not many shuttles around the Citadel as of yet.

There were airlocks all around the docking bays to make exiting a shuttle much more convenient. They were directed to one that would let them off at the refugee level. Vega's tattoo guy was on that level so Shepard decided that should be their first stop. She knew Garrus meant to check in on his people as soon as he could.

Shepard had forgotten the tattoo artist was a batarian. He never mentioned the Alpha Relay or the batarian colony. Never once did he glare at her. Instead, he simply nodded at her and she realized he might be one of the few who understood how and why the relay incident had gone the way it had.

When the guy asked what sort of inking they wanted, Garrus pulled up some turian script on his omni-tool. The batarian nodded, “Easy enough.”

Shepard went first, extending her left wrist to the artist. It was not as bad as she had thought it might be. Of course, nothing was as bad as dying in space the way she had. She sat through it as the male laid in the blue ink all the way around her wrist. He was fast, she gave him that and good. The lines of each letter of script were perfect.

Garrus was next and she was curious to see how he might react. After all, Chakwas had told her that turian wrists were much more sensitive than most of their bodies. All things considered, he handled it pretty well. At the first touch of the tattoo gun, his mandibles made a snapping sound as they pinned against his face. The batarian seemed to know he was causing his 'victim' quite a bit of pain and hurried through it as much as he could.

The second he was finished, Garrus snatched his arm away from him and shook his hand in the air for a minute. “That... uh.... that.... stings.”

“It looks good.” Shepard commented as she held her own wrist out to his. She smiled at the turian then. “And they match. He's good..... even with you squirming.”

“Hmm... still better than piercing a mandible or a brow-plate.” Garrus grumbled unconvincingly.

“If you say so.” Shepard chuckled. “I'll catch up with you later. Got that thermal coupling to grab.”

“I'll be here.... Gotta check in with Aptus, make sure the refugees from Palaven are getting the supplies they need.” Garrus nodded before stepping in close, cupping the back of her head and bringing his plated brow down to meet her smooth forehead.

Smiling at him, she tipped her head back and caught his mouth plates in a brief kiss before turning and jogging for the decon area. She knew that if she stayed any longer, she would wait for him to finish the refugees before finding that coupling. They needed to get moving and head for Tuchanka as soon as possible. That meant splitting up and taking care of what they needed to do individually.

“Shepard.... Hey, Shepard!” came an all too familiar voice as she exited the elevator on the Presidium level.

 _Oh god, what does he want?_ Shepard stopped and turned. Alenko was coming down the corridor at a quick clip. She nodded as he drew near. “Alenko.”

“I've been trying to contact you. Figure you saw the vids.... second human Spectre and all.” Alenko said with a smile.

“Yeah, congratulations on that.” Shepard said awkwardly. “You ready for it?”

“Well, you set the bar pretty high, but... yeah, I think so.” he nodded and looked her over, eyes locking on her left wrist. Those eyes narrowed suspiciously as they came back up to her face. “Look, I wanna come home... to the Normandy..... to you.”

Shepard stepped back out of his reach as he attempted to cup her face. “You're a damn fine soldier, Alenko. You'll make a better Spectre, but.... you're place isn't on the Normandy anymore. We both know that.”

“So it's true then. You did bond with Garrus...” his eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke, his hand dropping back to his side.

“It is.” she said with a quick nod.

“And that's his colony color... a bonding tattoo... I can't believe you left me for a turian. He's not human. What could you possibly see in him?” Alenko growled, indicating the new tat, but surprisingly stood his ground for the moment.

Shepard glared at him, her mind chewing on possible responses. Finally she came to the one response she thought might actually pierce that thick head of his. “Reach.”

“What?” he grumbled.

“Reach, Alenko. He's got _mind blowing_ reach.” she sneered at him. Something had to make him see she was not his anymore.

Apparently that was the first step. He grabbed her arm then and hauled her up against him. “Not good enough! You know you'll never have better than me. I'm human, he's not. You'll come crawling back to me soon enough.”

“Let. Go.” Shepard growled as his hand gripped the newly abraded skin over the wrist tat.

Alenko glanced over her head and inhaled slightly. “Yeah, I don't think so. We've still got unfinished business. You can come willingly.... or I can drag you.”

"I said... let go, Kaidan." she growled quietly, a dangerous edge to her voice.

“So you can run back to _him_? I don't think so. You're _mine_. You've always been mine and.... I'm not letting you go this time.” Alenko growled as he attempted to haul her toward the elevator. “I think it's time I reminded what you're missing with a human.”

“Yeah, that's not gonna happen!” Shepard barked and grasped the dark energy that governed her biotics.

There were laws on the Citadel against what she was about to do, but she did not care in that moment. Biotics were not permitted to use their skills in common areas. There were very few exceptions to that rule. Completely throwing that law out the nearest airlock, Shepard grasped him in a lift and tossed him over the nearby railing. A skilled biotic though he might be, it became clear he had not yet mastered the levitation biotic field. He went sailing out over the reservoir and landed in the water with a satisfying splash.

Shepard smiled, let out a sigh and straightened her top before moving on. There were a lot of ways to end a confrontation such as that with a former lover without bloodshed. He could explain to C-Sec exactly why he was swimming in the reservoir. It might look bad on her, but at least no one had gotten hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I blame Dannypooh80 for the beginning of this chapter. =P
> 
> That being said, this chapter didn't quite go where I expected it to go. The characters are whispering to me again... LOL.


	35. Chastised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus wants a piece of Kaidan for putting his hands on Shepard again and he's intent on carving that piece off with his talons.

Garrus let out a sigh of frustration both at Aptus and the stinging new tattoo around his left wrist. The latter was uncomfortable, but he could easily ignore it, but Aptus... Ignoring that male was next to impossible. His competence was failing in leaps and bounds when it came to getting things done for the refugees.

Pinching the soft tissue behind his nasal plates in frustration, he glared at Aptus for a moment. The anger boiled over as he glanced back down at the data pad in his hand. “I don't care if you have to _sleep_ with the hospital administrator! _Get_ those medical supplies down here... _now!_ We're going to lose a lot more men without medi-gel.”

“Yes, sir!” Aptus snapped and took off toward the elevator.

“ _Spirits!_ What now?” Garrus snapped when he saw Lilfrey headed his way.

“Aptus is a good man. He's doing everything you've asked... and then some.” Lilfrey said calmly as she stopped before him, one hand on her hip.

Garrus threw the data pad down on a nearby crate then glared down at her. She was shorter than the average female by a couple of inches. “You want to help? Pull some strings, use your contacts, whatever you need to do... But _make_ this happen, Lil. These men don't have time for bureaucratic bullshit.”

“Is there a problem?” Shepard's voice cut through the constant buzz of chatter around them.

A sense of relief settled over the turain when he saw her excuse herself and step past a couple of males. That relief evaporated the second his eyes fell on the matching tattoo around her wrist and the darkening bruise beneath. He pushed the concern for her down quickly. It could be dealt with after the current crisis was taken care of.

“The hospital administrator seems to think we don't need the dextro supplies he promised.” Garrus sighed, his eyes straying to that livid looking bruise again. It did not look like the kind of bruising Vega had told him might show up after the tattoo was finished. To the turian, it looked suspiciously like a hand print.

“Ok... I'll hit the Spectre office and put in a strongly worded request.” Shepard nodded and was about to go.

“You mean an order.” Garrus said, his mandibles widening in a faint smile despite himself.

“Something like that.” she smiled back at him and indicated the direction she was turning toward. Her smile grew at a thought that was clearly just occuring to her. “Wanna come? I think I can safely sneak you into the office.”

“Try to stop me.” Garrus rumbled before picking up the data pad and handing it to Lilfrey. “Wait for the Commander's authorization, then get on this, Lil.”

“Yes, Praetor.” the female said with a nod of respect.

Brow-plates drawing down in a faint frown, Garrus tried to read her expression before he turned to walk with Shepard. The female was usually much more snappish. He was not sure what to do with a compliant version of Lilfrey.

Garrus made it to the elevator with Shepard before he finally had to know what had happened. He reached for her hand and raised it up so that there was no hiding the bruise in the harsh light. It looked like a human hand print, five digits around her wrist. His mandibles drew in tightly to his face when he realized there was really only one person he could think of who might have the quads to grab her like that.

“Alenko again?” he asked, but it did not sound like a question.

Shepard glanced down at her wrist and nodded. Her voice was firm, every bit the commander when she spoke. “I took care of it.”

“And _I_ told him not to touch you again.” the turian's voice was deadly quite, his sub-harmonics a low growl beneath his words.

“It's alright, Garrus.” Shepard said, locking eyes with him again. “There was no real harm done.”

“You know what love does to a guy like me....? It turns me into a nervous wreck with something to lose.” he paused and cupped her face with one hand. Even through his anger, he marveled at the beauty he had never seen when she was 'just another human'. “And I've got the aim to make sure I don't.”

“Garrus....” the warning in her voice was low.

“I'm just saying.... _nobody_ better hurt you.” Garrus grumbled. _But Alenko already has. It's worse every time they cross paths. He better leave the galaxy now. There won't be a safe haven for him when I find him_.

“This has been dealt with. Alenko took an unexpected bath in the Presidium lake.” Shepard told him.

Garrus snorted a chuckle despite the anger that bubbled through him. “You threw him in?”

“Uh-huh.” she smiled up at him and closed her fist with a flicker of biotic energy.

“ _That_ I would have liked to see.” the idea of Alenko being tossed into the lake brought a smile to his mandibles and loosened some of the tension that was building across the muscles beneath his carapace.

Alenko did a good job of crawling under his plates and making them itch. He would like nothing better than to drop the man in the middle of the wastelands of Tuchanka and leave him for a thresher maw. Realistically, he knew that might never happen, however. He might have to settle for another little chat about boundaries.

The moment they stepped off the elevator on the embassy level, he saw Alenko. The man was heading in their general direction when he saw them as well. He stopped, almost seeming to freeze in his tracks before turning and heading the other way. Some primal part of Garrus' brain kicked in at that sudden retreat. He saw the man as prey in that instant. This was the part of his brain he relied on the most during combat.

The turian took off after the human before his bondmate could stop him. It was a fast walk that graduated into a dead run when the other realized he was being pursued. His feet thumped hard on the floor and people of every race shifted out of the way. He took the stairs two and three at a time. When the man bolted into the Spectre office, he stopped before the sealed door, fist thumping in frustration against it.

“What the hell was that?” Shepard demanded as she caught up to him a couple of heartbeats later.

“I _just_ wanna _talk_ to him.” Garrus said a little too smoothly.

“That wasn't talking, Vakarian! That was chasing, intimidating. What the hell is going on with you?” Shepard paced around him, eyes never leaving his face.

Garrus closed his eyes and dropped his fist from the door as he backed away from it. _She's right, this isn't you. This is_ _ **Archangel**_ _, you know, the guy from Omega you've been trying to leave behind... Guess he's part of who you are deep down now. Damn... I_ _ **really**_ _didn't want that to be true_.

“He in there?” she all but growled at him in a tone he had not been on the receiving end of in more than a year.

The turian simply nodded and glanced at her. “I'll... uh.... I'll head back to the Normandy.”

“I don't think so... _Archangel_...” she said quietly. “We're settling this... _now_.”

There was no one nearby to hear her, but it stung all the same. _What is it human's say? I'm in the dog hut? What the hell is a dog anyway? That's some kind of Earth varren, right?_ He had started to turn away when his brain finally clicked her words into place like a lightning bolt. Glancing back at her, he nodded. He knew it was probably better handled this way. Less chance of him actually taking Alenko's head off.

Shepard stepped up to that door and passed her hand over the key lock. The female voice of the system VI recognized her Spectre status and the door opened. She stepped in first.

“Dammit....” Alenko sighed when he saw them both enter the office.

“This ends now, Kaidan. You've got a chance to be a great Spectre. Don't blow it by getting in my way.” Shepard said as she walked over to the man and stopped just out of his reach.

“Listen to her, Alenko. Shepard's the only thing saving your ass right now.” Garrus growled at him.

“Oh yeah? What's the matter, Vakarian? Don't have the balls to follow through on your last threat? Do you even _have_ balls?” Alenko sneered.

“ _Enough!_ Both of you! You two can pull your heads out of your asses long enough to realize there is a _war_ going on around us! We can't afford to be fighting between ourselves. If we stand divided, we fail and the Reapers win.” Shepard growled, her voice turning cold and unyielding on her last words. She glanced between them pointedly as she continued. “ _One more_ soldier, _one more_ Spectre, _one more_ leader can make all the difference here. The two of you were part of a team once. Set _this_ aside and _prove_ you can still work together!”

Shepard's pep talks were always inspiring or intensely humbling. This one was no different in Garrus' eyes. She was right, he knew she was. Alenko would have made any turian commander proud to have him in a platoon. There was just this one personality defect that kept cropping up. If the man could set aside his jealousy and resentment, then he was willing to try as well.

Garrus made the first move here as it was clear Alenko was not going to. He stepped forward and offered the man his hand, eyes locked to his. “Truce?”

Alenko glared at him, then glanced toward Shepard, clearly thinking about his best course of action. Reluctantly, he nodded and took the turian's hand. “Truce.. for now, but when this is over...”

“The gloves are off.” Garrus agreed.

“I'll hold you both to this.” Shepard started toward the console in the back of the room before glancing back at Alenko. “And, Alenko.... touch me again and I _will_ let him have your ass. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma'am.” Alenko said automatically before turning for the door.

“Let's get these orders sent off....” Shepard grumbled, reaching for the console as Kaidan practically ran out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know.... this was supposed to be an ass whoopin', but the characters had other ideas....


	36. Suggestions of Sabotage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is none too thrilled with the Dalatrass' suggestion of sabotage.

This were quiet for a couple of days aboard the Normandy while the engineers installed that thermal coupling. Shepard had finally invited Garrus back into their bed from his place on the couch. Having slept on that couch a couple of times herself, she knew it was not the most comfortable piece of furniture in the galaxy. She could not be too upset with him though, he had been looking out for her safety, after all. Alenko was more dangerous than she had given him credit for. She saw the potential for another Saren in him if he did not change his ways.

Garrus was another story entirely. He worried her sometimes. It was all too easy for him to slip back into that Archangel mind set. Clearly anything had gone to get a job done during his days on Omega. She could not really fault him for that, however. Omega was a rough place. The impact he and his team had made was still clear, even if he could not see it. Archangel would always be a vigilante and Garrus would always be Archangel no matter how far down he shoved that persona. One could not exist without the other. She was thinking of that when she headed up to the flight deck. Joker had some news for her.

“There's a Reaper parked at the Shroud facility. No way you can get a shuttle past it to land.” Joker peeked around his chair as she came into the bridge.

“Get everyone assembled in the War Room. I want eyes on the Shroud.” Shepard barked as she turned and headed back toward that room.

“Aye, aye, ma'am.” Joker said as he began tapping in keys.

The moment she stepped into the room, Mordin glanced up at her. The salarian was still tapping his chin with his cybernetic fingers as she came down to his level. “New form of Reaper, Shepard. Using Shroud to poison Tuchanka's atmosphere. Problematic.”

Wrex glared at the holo-display and practically threw himself off the rim of the dais with a snarl. “They want a fight. They just got one.”

“Primarch,” Shepard said, locking eyes with the turian. “we're gonna need your help.”

The male glanced down at the dais before him, the look on his face seemed subdued. “That could be difficult. Our losses on Palaven have been catastrophic.”

“We're doing this for Palaven. No one said it would be easy.” Shepard reminded him.

Victus took a step forward and leaned on that dais, eyes trained on the holo-display. “What do you have in mind?”

Shepard nodded more to herself than him and turned her attention back on the display. She keyed in a few sequences and explained. “A combined attack. You're people hit the Reaper with an airstrike. Wrex, at the same time, your soldiers will be attacking from the ground. Together you can draw it away from the tower.”

“Yes, distraction. A small team can reach Shroud facility, finish synthesizing cure.” Mordin agreed as they all examined the the strategic display. He glanced at Shepard then. “Will need Eve to come with us.”

Shepard stood there thoughtfully staring at the 'pawns on the board' for a moment before turning to the others. “We've never faced a Reaper up close like this. Everyone on board?”

“There's even a doubt?” Wrex growled out. He shook his head and hurriedly stepped away from the dais. “Let's move, pyjack. It's time to cure the genophage.”

“Commander, incoming message marked urgent. I'll put it in the comm room for you.” Traynor's voice came over the ship's comm the moment the others headed up the stairs.

Shepard glanced toward the room for a moment before heading toward it. The image of the salarian dalatrass resolved itself the moment she was inside. The female did not look happy.

“Dalatrass?” Shepard's voice was closer to a growl than a greeting.

“Commander Shepard, we know you've reached Tuchanka. And by now, I imagine Mordin Solus has proposed using the Shroud.” Linron was her usual snappish self.

“Are you _spying_ on us?” Shepard demanded irritably.

“Hardly. The Shroud is the only course of action open to you.” the female sounded offended before continuing in her nearest approximation of a pleading tone. “Commander, you _can't allow_ your misguided sympathy for the krogan to cloud your judgment. Do you honestly think that curing the genophage will end in lasting peace?”

“We have to give the krogan that chance.” Shepard barely contained her sigh of frustration at the female. She frowned at the female as she continued. “You can't condemn an entire race to extinction based on what _might_ happen.”

“What _will_ happen is the krogan will reproduce out of control.” the dalatrass said, taking a slight step back, waving a hand around angrily. “We uplifted them _specifically_ for their violent nature, not their diplomatic skills. Another war is inevitable.”

“What do you want, Dalatrass?” Shepard asked against her better judgment, glaring at the female. She was pretty sure she already knew, but she wanted to hear it out of the female herself.

“Years ago, our operatives sabotaged the Shroud facility to ensure what you're planning couldn't be done. Mordin will likely detect this malfunction and repair it.” the salarian shifted her weight from foot to foot and locked eyes with the commander. “But if you ensure he doesn't, then the cure's viability will be altered enough so that it fails. No one will notice the change. We can provide you with our very best scientists to build the Crucible... and the full support of our fleet.” the dalatrass did not even miss a beat even with Shepard glaring at her.

“If I sabotage the cure...” Shepard said quietly. There was no real decision to make here, she realized. She rested her hands on the railing near the tiny inset console and cut the connection. “Traynor, please inform the dalatrass that we're receiving some interference from the Reaper presence in this system.”

“Yes, Commander.” Traynor responded.

“Garrus, James, lock and load.” Shepard called over the comm to her team. The rest would already be waiting in or near the shuttle.


	37. The Hollows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus intends to stand with his bondmate and their friend no matter how much the horde of krogan around them might enjoy ripping his fringe off.

“I've ordered the clans to assemble at the Hollows. It's out sacred meeting ground. We'll land there and take an armored convoy against the Reaper.” Wrex said then glanced up toward something unseen. “ _This_ will be the defining moment of krogan history.”

“Krogan history filled with defining moments. Most blood. Hope this one better.” Mordin said as he took a seat near Eve.

“Commander, you seem troubled.” Eve spoke up from her seat in the corner.

Shepard glanced down for a moment before looking the krogan female in the eyes. “I got a message form the – ”

Sudden turbulence cut her off before she could say more. A moment later another krogan voice filled the cabin over the comm. “Wrex, it's Wreav. The Reapers are already at the Hollows! Come out with guns blazing!”

“Hang on tight! We're heading in!” Cortez suggested as his raced over the controls.

Wrex had the hatch open no sooner than they had landed. A husk screamed nearby and raced toward them. The krogan blew it nearly in half with his shotgun. He dropped to the ground and turned back to look at the commander. “Shepard! Keep them away from the female! I'll sort out what's happening with the other clans!”

Wrex took off in one direction, Shepard and her team took another. Every variety of Reaper-spawn they had seen so far was present and accounted for on Tuchanka soil. It was utter chaos with the other krogan tearing through what they could.

“Everyone pick your targets and keep an eye on our six! Now move!” Shepard barked the orders, completely in her element.

“Watch it! Incoming!” James shouted as they moved a few feet down the ramp. He fired his assault rifle at a husk about to dive on the commander.

“Push forward! Don't let them get up here!” Shepard snapped as they defended the ramp up to the shuttle. She tossed out a singularity to help contain some of the runners headed their way.

“Shepard, it's ugly over here!” Wrex called over the comm. “Whatever you do, keep them away from the female!”

Stepping down to the bottom of the ramp, the commander looked to her left and completely missed the husk running at her right until it was too late. The once human monster swung at her, knocking her into a roll that brought her up several feet from the base of the ramp.

“Shepard!” Garrus hissed between pinched mouth plates as rushed several husks, knocking them into the singularity the commander had set.

Shepard was already on her feet and fighting her way back to the ramp as he reached the bottom. James brought up the rear and took out anything that got too near the ramp. His assault rifle was chattering hotly.

“Reminds me of the mess on Palaven.” James grumbled.

Garrus glanced at him with a nod. He knew far too well what the man mean. It had been this bad and worse on Palaven. Menae was like this at the last, when Shepard and the walking mountain behind him had shown up. It had taken very little for the turian to come to respect the big human behind him. He liked to think they were friends.

Shepard gave a hand signal, directing them to circle around the dais in the middle of the vast room. Vega headed one direction and Garrus the other. He pressed himself against the dais when he saw the horde heading into the room. It was about to get even uglier.

“We're not done yet – more on the way!” Garrus shouted as he started picking off what he could with his own assault rifle. He was too close and not in a good position to snipe them.

Shepard moved in beside him and tucked herself tightly against the wall. She peeked around him for an instant and tossed out a shockwave. It was clear that his side was far more crowded than Vega's.

“We've almost got them all!” Garrus said as he popped a spent heat sync.

“They'll sing battle-songs about this someday.” The instant the last husk dropped, Wrex appeared on the platform near the shuttle. He walked over toward it and continued. “Reaper blood has finally soaked our soil.”

Krogan all around the room on all levels responded with grunts, growls and thumps of their fists together. It became all too clear why this male had become such a strong leader among his people. His words inspired them and his presence stirred them. That was what Garrus saw in the crowds that ringed the room as Shepard left his side and approached the krogan.

“We have to get to the Shroud. The airstrike is on its way.” Shepard reinforced the reason they were on that soil.

“Female safe, Shepard. Vitals are strong.” Mordin said stepping out from behind Wrex.

_Spirits, here it comes. Doesn't he realized the krogan hate his kind? They hate mine too, but... at least I can hold my own against... well.... one anyway._ Garrus looked around hastily, checking for raised guns. His and every other head in the room swiveled in the direction of the krogan voice that boomed through the air.

“What's a salarian doing here?” Wreav demanded as he and the clan behind him stomped toward them. “Nobody said anything about this!”

“Multiple krogan. Problematic.” Mordin said and did not seem phased by it in the least.

“Who are you?” Shepard demanded even as Wrex stomped toward the male.

“Urdnot Wreav. Brood bother to our...” he paused dramatically as he came face to face with Wrex. “...illustrious leader.”

There were grumbles all around and Wrex sneered at them all before returning his gaze to his brother. “Wreav and I share the same mother. And nothing else.”

“For which I am grateful. I remember what it means to be a true krogan.” Wreav growled back.

Garrus noted their coloring was different. Wreav was more tan and lighter. He looked younger, less seasoned than his friend. Certainly not leader material by any means. There were more cheers, nonetheless.

Wreav continued as he stepped back among his clansmen. “We flay our enemies alive and drown them in geysers of their own blood. We don't invite them into our home.”

“This salarian is not your enemy. He's here to help _cure_ the genophage.” Shepard spoke up in defense of Mordin.

“His kind gave us the genophage! Why should we trust him?” Wreav growled and stomped toward Shepard and Mordin.

Garrus squeezed the grip of his assault rifle so hard he thought it must surely snap under the pressure. He held his ground, however, and waited. Wrex was on the move, after all. He knew the krogan would not let the other, brother or not, near Shepard.

A moment later his thoughts were confirmed when Wrex headbutted the other male viciously. There were grumbles and boos all around as Wreav's hands covered his face. Wrex glared at them all. He snarled at them. “Because I trust him! And so will you, Wreav.”

Wreav sneered at his brother, but held his ground while there dark mutterings all around. It was about to get ugly, Garrus realized, as Wreav suddenly pulled out his shotgun and aimed it at Wrex. He fully expected this whole thing to go sideways in a bad way.

“ _Enough!_ ” Eve shouted from the top of the ramp. When the grumbling tones lowered, she continued. “You can stay here and let old wounds fester, as krogan have always done... or you can fight the enemy you were _born_ to destroy – and win a new future for our children. _I choose to fight_. Who will join me?”

The krogan female had continued to walk down the ramp until she stood on the dais in the middle of the room. She turned and glared at all those in the room now. Only her eyes visible beneath the veil she wore.

Shepard glared at Wreav a moment before she stepped out of the crowd. “ _I_ will.”

Garrus stepped in behind her, but held his peace. This was no place for a turian to speak his will, not yet. He would stand with them, but not simply because his world needed their support. Wrex was his friend and that friendship meant a great deal to him.

“And so will I.” Wrex glanced back at them with a growl and a nod when he saw the turian towering behind the commander. He headed toward the ramp on the opposite side of the room and pointed toward the world outside, his armor soaked in the blood of Reap-spawn. “Now hold your heads high like true krogan! There's a Reaper that needs killing!”

There were mutters and growls all around at his words, more so than those that been inspired by his brother. It was clearer still why Wrex was the better leader. His presence was nearly as powerful as Shepard's. Maybe more so among his own kind.

Wreav seemed reluctant as he glared at Mordin. The salarian shrugged one shoulder uncomfortably. The krogan nodded just once. At that, Shepard turned and made her way up the ramp toward the convoy that was waiting to take them to the Shroud.


	38. The Road to War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The road to war is rocky and full of perils.

The moment they exited into the dull and clouded obstructed Tuchanka daylight, they saw the convoy vehicles waiting. Mako-like tanks, several of them. Climbing into the vehicles, none of them really knew what to expect of the ride ahead. Tuchanka was a nuclear wasteland with ruins dotting its scorched deserts. The heat was oppressive and Shepard envied her turian bondmate. His armor came with a built-in heating unit and she suspected it must have a cooling unit.

The 'road' was rough and the vehicles bounced along it for awhile. The moment they came to a flat strip that might actually have once been road, a transmission came through. “Krogan ground convoy, this is turian wing Artimec. Our flight vector to the Shroud is locked. We're ten minutes out and counting.”

“Copy that, Artimec. We're on our way, trying to make up lost time. Shepard out.”

“Wreav isn't the only krogan who wants revenge for the genophage, Wrex. You'll have to placate them somehow.” Eve stated as she locked her gaze on Clan Urdnot's leader.

Wrex shifted in his seat with a faint smile on his large mouth. “I'll demand the Council return some of _our_ old territory. We'll need room to expand – recapture the glory of the ancients.”

“'Glory of the ancients' lead to Krogan Rebellions. Countless deaths. Creation of genophage. Expansion plan... problematic.” Mordin said, leaning forward to look at the krogan from the other side of the vehicle.

Shepard listened to his explanation and decided she wanted the other side of that story. “What were the ancient krogan like?”

“Tuchanka wasn't always a wasteland. In the old times, the krogan were a _proud_ people. We had dreams... a future to look forward to.” Eve elaborated.

“Until salarian interference.” Mordin stated, sounding somewhat saddened by the thought.

“No. we destroyed Tuchanka ourselves. Technology changed us. It made life to easy. So we looked for new challenges – and found them in each other. Nuclear war was inevitable.” Eve continued.

Wrex leaned forward and began gesturing with his hands to emphasis his point. “And now _our_ planet is in rubble. We'll need a better place to live.”

“I'd say helping defeat the Reapers would be worth a new planet.” Shepard said, cocking her head to the side slight.

“Or ten. You haven't seen how fast we can pop them out.” Wrex looked up at her with a smile.

“Wrex...” Eve said in obvious frustration.

“What?” Wrex said, leaning back in his seat and slouching slightly. “With the genophage cured, we'll have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Commander, on the shuttle – was there something you were going to say?” Eve looked to her with an open expression in her eyes.

_How to approach this without being gutted, that's the real question here. I guess honesty really is the best policy here. God knows the dalatrass can take her 'deal' and shove it up her cloaca_. With a sigh, Shepard nodded. “Yeah, there was. The dalatrass tried to cut a secret deal with me.”

“What kind of deal?” Wrex leaned forward, the look on his face full of suspicion.

“The cure's not going to work. The Shroud was sabotaged years ago. We'll have to fix it first.” Shepard shook her head as she spilled what she knew. She opened her omni-tool and played the audio clip for them all to hear.

Wrex sneered in anger at the words that came pouring out of the device. He looked forever more like a pissed off snapping turtle in that moment. “And she thought we wouldn't know better?”

“Correctly. Would likely have fooled tests. But familiar with STG work. Can adjust. Did not come this far for nothing.” Mordin nodded from his seat.

“You just spared our race another genocide, Commander.” Eve said thoughtfully.

“I told you we could count on her.” Wrex sounded confident as he spoke.

The krogan's confidence in her boosted her sense of moral. Something about this whole mission had felt off somehow from the moment they landed on Tuchanka. She could not quite put a finger on what it might be. At first she thought it might have been Wreav, but even after that confrontation the feeling persisted.

A few minutes later, they all felt the vehicle come to a stop. Wrex stood, an angry look pinned to his face. “Why are we stopping?”

Shepard was the first to hop out of the vehicle the moment it pulled to a complete stop. She saw Garrus and James hope out of the vehicle behind them. The moment she got a good look at her turian, she realized her envy was misplaced. He was wiping away sweat that had gathered around his neck. Clearly his armor did not have that cooling unit, after all.

Looking out across the desert, she saw the Shroud off in the distance, and the Reaper that sat nearby. They were right, it was a new kind of Reaper and it was actively poisoning the atmosphere. The krogan must really pose a threat to them if they were going to that extreme. _Good. We get krogan boots on Palaven and work on uniting the rest of the galaxy, maybe we can destroy these bastards_.

“Wrex, you and Mordin stay with Eve. It's looking ugly out here.” Shepard touched the implant near her ear and gave the order. She did not want the female exposed to whatever that Reaper was pumping into the air.

“Will do.” Wrex said, no argument.

“It's dangerous stopping like this.” one of the krogan that had spilled from the other vehicles said as he leaned on the railing. “We don't wanna be here if Kalros comes looking for dinner.”

“ _Spirits_... look at that thing! It's the end of the world out there.” Garrus breathed as he stopped at the railing.

“I've never seen the sky like that.” another krogan glanced at the turian and said in complete shock.

“How are we supposed to fight a war without a road?” one of the drivers asked as he looked down into the ravine between the two halves of that road.

Shepard stopped near him and looked down at that same ravine. “Is this the hold up?”

“Yeah. Road's out. The convoy can't make it through.” the lead driver answered.

“Dammit...” Shepard sighed and glanced up at the sky before touching the implant near her ear again. She walked a little distance away. “Turian wing Artimec, this is Shepard. We've been delayed – hold off your attack.”

“Negative, Commander. Our approach is locked. The Reaper already knows we're here!” the wing commander said over her comm.

The place started to rumble with the sounds of fighters, dirt raining down on them from the jagged teeth of the ruins above. Shepard looked up in time to see the wing flying over. She took a few steps toward the railing in numb silence.

“An air strike alone won't do it. We _have_ to _get in_ that fight.” Garrus growled quietly beside her as he too watched the wing unit heading toward that Reaper.

“ _Damn it!_ ” Shepard raged softly as the first fighter went down to Reaper fire. More took fire, some spiraling out of control as she took long strides back to that lead driver. “I don't care if we have to _build_ a new road! _We're going!_ ”

“Ooooh shit....” James breathed a little ways away as one of the fighters took a direct hit and swerved toward them, clearly out of control.

“I'm losing control! Can't pull up!” the pilot was broadcasting.

“Move!” Shepard yelled as she realized it might already be too late.

The blast, when the fighter hit, nearly threw her over the edge of that ravine. One of the 'cars' was thrown into the air and came crashing down barely a foot from her. She scooted away from the edge quickly on her hip. That was too close. It seemed every disaster was getting closer and closer.

“Shepard, what's happening?” Wrex called urgently over the comm.

“Wrex, get the female out of here now! Go!” she yelled over the explosions as she continued to scoot back. She was barely clear when the remaining 'cars' ran over the one that had haphazardly bridged the gap in the road. “Artimec, do you copy?”

“We have to abort, Commander! That Reaper's tearing us to pieces!” the wing commander stated.

Shepard managed to get painfully to her feet and looked around as the dust was settling. There were bodies among the debris, but she could not tell who they were yet. “Understood! Save your pilots – we'll find another way!”


	39. The Underground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus was not calm, not at all. The place kept shaking ominously and debris was falling from the ceiling.

Moving through the rubble and burning debris, Garrus found a number of krogan bodies. There was no sign of Shepard or James among the dead. For that, he was deeply grateful. The smoke was stinging his eyes and drawing a cough from his lungs, but he continued searching for his team. He found James first, the human had hunkered down near a chunk of what might once have been a pillar of some kind. Other than a couple of scratches, he seemed fine.

Pressing a hand against his right brow-plate, he realized it was cracked. When he dropped it there was blue blood dribbling slowly down along the faint ridges in the plate to run down the side of his nose. He staggered slightly as he stepped past the remains of the fighter. The smoke before him cleared slightly and he saw her heading slowly his way.

“You alright?” Shepard asked him as she reached up to gingerly touch the plate near the crack.

“Fine...” Garrus hissed as her fingers came too close to the small split. He pulled his face just out of her reach and took her hand. That crack, small as it was, hurt like he had been hit with a hammer. He gripped her fingers gently.

“You're sure?” she asked, concern in her voice.

The turian nodded before pointing toward an opening in the wall behind her. “That may be a way off this road.”

“We need to get to it then.” Shepard nodded and turned to follow the direction he was pointing.

Garrus watched her step into a run and leap over the gap between the tunnel and the road. His heart was practically in his mouth when she rolled on the other side. The drop, if she had missed, would have been fatal beyond a doubt.

Taking a deep breath, he followed her after a couple of heartbeats. The jump was not so far for him with his longer legs. His were legs that were built for jumping. When they flexed into the jump and his ankles pivoted, the spurs jutting from the sides of his knees did what nature intended. They added a bit more spring to the muscles anchored to them as they stretched. He could easily have made a jump five times that distance. Shepard could not.

“Show off.” his human bondmate muttered with a half smile as he landed beside her.

James followed and nearly missed the edge. He caught it with his hands and dangled for a moment before Shepard and Garrus pulled him up. The meat mountain panted frantically as he leaned over, hands on his knees once back on solid ground. The man grumbled something in a language Garrus did not understand.

Shepard took point and went so far before she came across a short drop-off. Garrus followed her closely. It was dark down there and he was getting flashes of Utukku and the rachni. This, he realized, could be so much worse. There were no rachni on Tuchanka as far as he knew, but there were thresher maws. He had no desire to become a turian crunch wrap for a giant worm with teeth.

“Wrex, are you receiving this? Is everyone alright?” Shepard

“Yeah, just scratches. Nothing the salarian can't patch up.” Wrex answered clearly. As an afterthought he added. “Wreav's truck made it out too.”

“The turians had to call off the air strike. We'll need a new plan for dealing with the Reaper.” Shepard said as she continued deeper into the ruins.

“What the hell? Felt like a tremor.” James muttered darkly as he shone his flashlight up at the ceiling in fear.

The ground suddenly started shaking beneath them again, a little harder this time and Garrus staggered, trying to maintain his balance. Glancing down at the floor, he grumbled. “That's... not a tremor.”

“First we'll have to find you. Where did you end up?” Wrex was asking Shepard as she moved a little ways away from them.

“Underground. We're in some kind of ruins.” she answered as she traced a column before her with her flashlight.

“Commander, that's the city of the ancients.” Eve stated. She must have grabbed Wrex' omni-tool covered arm in order to speak to them.

“How do we get out?” Shepard asked calmly.

Garrus was not calm, not at all. The place kept shaking ominously and debris was falling from the ceiling. James was in a far worse state than he was. He was beginning to think the man might be claustrophobic.

“No maps exist. It's been abandoned for thousands of years.” Eve explained.

“Wonderful.” Shepard grumbled.

“You're a trailblazer, Shepard. Get through _there_ , and we'll find a place to meet up.” Wrex laughed. “Nothing will stop this cure.”

Garrus had moved around the room cautiously. There was debris, crumbling stones and spider webs everywhere. _Spiders, there had to be spiders. At least they're not rachni._ Moving along one wall, he found another drop-off and a room of sorts beyond.

“Shepard, over here.” he called softly, his voice still echoed.

She came over to him and panned her flashlight down into the room. A moment later, she dropped to the level below. She did not wait for her team, instead, she moved deeper into the place and disappeared into the darkness.

Garrus wasted no time in dropping down to the floor below and following her. He heard James grumble something he did not catch. The room was not large and he caught sight of his bondmate heading up a set of stairs to his right. He followed quickly. It ended in a crumbling wall and they were forced to backtrack. He grumbled to himself when they found another set of stairs leading down deeper into what he was beginning to see as the pit of hell.

When the place shook around them, he glanced around. “There it is again. That didn't feel like a tremor to me.”

“Wrex, are you guys feeling these tremors?” Shepard asked curiously.

“Not up here.” Wrex answered simply.

“It could be something else, Commander. It is said that Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws, lives in this region.” Eve said.

“Which is another reason to get your ass out of there, Shepard! Step on it!” Wrex barked.

“Soooo, do I really wanna know who 'Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws' is?” James asked cautiously.

“When the krogan _name_ a thresher maw, you know you're in trouble.” Garrus snarked, but he did not feel it. What he felt was a burning desire to get the hell out of that cavern. The idea of becoming a turian crunch wrap was beginning to feel all too real. “They don't think anyone's ever going to kill it.”

“You're not helping, lover.” Shepard gave him that sing-song tone of frustration.

“No, bro, you're really not. I get the feeling this thing is gonna come up out of the floor and eat us.” James complained.

“It might.” Garrus snickered.

“You know, I think I'm gonna take your sister's advice and tweak one of your frills.” Shepard grumbled.

“You wouldn't dare.” Garrus growled.

“Don't push me, Vakarian.” she chuckled.

They came to a wall with a stylized image of a thresher maw on it. Garrus watched as Shepard logged the image with her omni-tool. “Wild guess says that's Kalros.”

“ _That's_ what's crawling around down here?” James asked incredulously.

“Uh-huh, and unless we wanna meet it face-to-face, I suggest we find a way out... double time.” Shepard said.

Turning down another crumbling corridor they came across another wall of artwork. It depicted krogan riding something that Shepard said looked like a rhinoceros with mandibles. Garrus had no idea what a rhinoceros was, but they must be huge to support a krogan like that. Personally, he thought they looked a little like kantogs.

Rounding another corner, they came to a set of stairs leading up and the body of a rachni. Garrus shuddered at the sight as his flashlight swept over the body. “Oh crap... I was hoping we left those on Utukku.”

“Is that a rachni? I thought it'd be bigger.” James commented as he squatted down to check it out.

“You should see the queen.” Garrus grumbled.

“Where there's one, there are bound to be more. Stay sharp, guys.” Shepard glanced between the two of them as she logged this on her omni-tool as well. “Wrex, keep an eye out. We've got rachni here.”

“I know. A few of them just attacked us. All that matters is getting to that Shroud. Find us... fast.” Wrex had a one-track mind, but no one could really blame him.

Shepard drew her pistol and headed up the stairs. Garrus followed her, James close on his heels. He was not used to someone tracking behind him. It was unnerving.

“Looks like light ahead.” Garrus noted as he realized the opening above was brighter. As they topped the stairs and came out on a platform overlooking a vast room supported by pillars, he commented again. “Uh.. Now this is new – a part of Tuchanka that isn't rubble.”

“Makes you wonder what the krogan _could_ have been if they hadn't nuked the place.” James speculated.

Looking around, Garrus found a way out that lead back outside. “Over here, there's a way out.”

Shepard followed him quickly, just as thrilled to be out of that dark hole as he was. “Wrex, we made it back outside.”

“Well, if you can see sunlight, that's progress.” the krogan snarked.

“And green.” Garrus breathed in awe as he stepped over to a broken ledge and looked down. “I didn't think plants grew here anymore.”

“You're looking at hope – all that's left of it on Tuchanka.” Eve came over the comm. “This was once a world full a beauty. Given the chance, it can be again.”

“Shepard, that Reaper is still up to no good at the Shroud. Find a way out of there, and we'll pick you up.” Wrex interrupted the female.

“We're on it.” Shepard nodded to herself.


	40. Kalros Sighted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard's eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lungs at the sight of the giant thresher maw slithering it's way through the gap in the bridge ahead of her.

There was more green in this area than Shepard had seen anywhere else on Tuchanka. She had to agree with Garrus, she had not thought plants grew on the planet anymore at all. Looking around, she moved slowly into this upper section of ruins. She thought it might once have been some sort of plaza. In some places below, there were what might even be the straggling saplings of trees struggling to find the sun through the shroud of debris clouds.

“Love to know how we're going to deal with the Reaper when we get there.” James was a buzz-kill at that moment.

Shepard finally moved more toward the center of the plaza instead of the edge. The moment she did, she heard the blast before Garrus shouted. It was the distinctive sound of Reaper-spawn being launched at them.

“Ahead! We've got movement!” Garrus' shout simply drew her attention to sharp focus ahead of them.

“Back into the frying pan.” James grumbled as he took cover half a heartbeat after Garrus.

“Cannibals... have I mentioned how much I hate Cannibals... and husks... and especially Marauders?” Shepard growled as she ducked into cover.

“And Reapers in general.” Garrus said smoothly as he took careful aim at a Cannibal a few yards away.

“You know, I'm _so_ done with these things.” Shepard grumbled as she tossed out a shockwave to unbalance as many of the horde as she could.

Garrus took his Cannibal out and hooted. “Scoped and dropped!”

“Bro, you're a sick puppy.” James laughed.

“Hmm... what's a puppy?” Garrus asked as he glanced at the man.

“Oh wow.” James laughed a little harder as his assault rifle rattled away. “Shepard, you gotta take him to Earth.”

“Rachni at eleven o'clock!” Garrus called as he clearly sighted them through his scope.

Shepard peeked around the broken pillar she had tucked herself behind and fired off a few pistol rounds at the bulging beasts. There was a satisfying popping sound when one of them went down. She barely ducked back into cover in time as a shot from a Cannibal flashed by her face. _Closer and closer... any bullet could be the last one_. Throwing herself from cover, she ran up a ramp into a more sheltered section of the 'plaza'. It allowed her to circle around and get a better view of their targets. She started picking them off a few at a time before she slung out a singularity.

Continuing to move, Shepard rolled to the next vantage point. She heard Garrus call out his next shot and ducked down behind what might once have been a planter.

“Firing high impact shot!” the turian yelled and a few seconds later there was a faint thomp sound as the biotically charged heat syncs were fired from the modified barrel of his rifle.

The shot exploded on impact with a couple of Cannibals. He was getting good with that timing. The second the blast dissipated, Shepard was moving again. She stumbled and hit the ground, rolling for her next cover.

“Another quake!” James shouted out the obvious.

“That had to be Kalros.” Garrus grumbled from another place of cover not far from her. She realized he had been moving along with her and smiled. That anticipation of action and reaction still working perfectly for them.

“Ah, shit....” James sounded as if he was anything but thrilled with that idea.

“Stay sharp, guys. We don't know where that thing is gonna pop up.” Shepard snapped as she tossed out another singularity and caught several Cannibals in it. She only wished it worked for the rachni, but the claws on the ends of their legs held them firmly in place.

Shepard was forced to take several tiny rachni out with her pistol as they rushed her. She silently thanked Garrus when he sniped the bigger one behind them. Her ears were ringing with the sounds of combat by that point and her eyes were burning from the gun smoke.

One day this might all be over and she wondered how well she might adjust to peace. If the galaxy survived the Reapers, could she be domesticated? She did not know. Right now, she felt like a savage animal fighting for its own survival. That was how it had been since Saren. Some part of her had forgotten what it was like to remain at rest for an extended period of time. She sincerely hoped she remembered when the time came.

Glancing to her right as she pressed herself against a short wall, she saw the remains of a stone bench. It seemed to confirm for her that this had once been some sort of plaza. She ran for it and all but threw herself into its meager cover as shots ran out around her. There were tiny rachni everywhere and she took as many of them out as she could before moving on.

Moss covered a mound of rubble that lead into a set of short stairs before her. She climbed over it and ran up those crumbling stairs, her team slipping from cover to join her. All was silent for the moment, a lull in combat. She did not allow herself to relax. If she did, she and her team were as good as dead. Anything could be around the next corner.

Moving along, she took note of various stairs, benches and ancient planters along the way. Some short bronze-like metal covered the lower sections of some of the broken pillars. The place must have been stunning before it was reduced to rubble. She had never thought of the krogan as architects, builders, artisans. They were warriors, that was how she knew them. Part of her wondered if they even could reclaim the glory of their past.

“It's not over yet!” James called and popped the heat sync on his assault rifle.

“More Cannibals....” Shepard grumbled as she ducked behind a fallen column and returned fire.

The first wave went down quickly enough and she silently cursed James for a brainless idiot when he crossed in front of her. The man rolled more smoothly than she would have thought as a couple of shots pinged against his shields and armor. He glared back at her then returned his attention to the enemy.

“Friendly fire, Shepard! Watch it!” he barked.

“Watch yourself and stay the hell out of my way!” Shepard snapped at him. The next instant she tossed a shockwave out at the running horde. She knew he felt the tingle off it when he gave her a murderous look.

There was a smile on her face that simply said, 'try me'. He said nothing, but she heard Garrus chuckle somewhere off to her right. He would be remembering the days chasing after Saren, when they were first catching their own rhythm. She had nearly killed him a couple of times in crossfire before he had figured it out. The commander was a dangerous force of nature.

“Watch it! We've got one of the big ones!” Garrus shouted a few seconds later. He must have seen it coming through his scope.

“And he brought friends!” James growled as he fired off a few rounds at the husks surrounding the Brute.

Garrus slipped in beside her with a smile spreading across his mandibles. She glanced down at his hand and realized he was biotically charging a grenade. Smiling back, she said, “I love you.”

“Hmm... I know.” he hummed as he glanced over the edge of their cover. The second that grenade was glowing with blue energy he raised up to throw it. “Heads up!”

Watching him throw that toward the Brute with a grunt, Shepard realized the turians must have some sport similar to baseball. The way he wound up that throw reminded her of a pitcher. Peeking over the column, she saw it hit the Brute squarely in the chest before exploding. It staggered, but did not go down. Instead, it charged after James.

Garrus had unslung his own assault rifle and let loose a barrage at the Brute. He hooted the instant it fell. “Scratch one!”

Shepard darted out of cover and ran across the roots of some radiation warped tree. The husk racing toward her went down under pistol fire quickly. It's blood soaked into the soil around those roots.

“Got 'em all... for now.” Garrus said, gripping his rifle and coming up beside her.

They moved around a corner and came to several broken platforms. Shepard struggled to maintain her balance as another quake shook the whole area dangerously. “Wrex, you're right about Kalros! She's on the move!”

“Yeah, we've got some ideas on that – What?” Wrex began and was clearly interrupted rudely.

“Not now, Wrex. The commander has enough to worry about.” Eve barked at him.

“What's happening?” Shepard asked as she looked for a way to climb up to the next level. Clearly the stairs had collapsed into the holes she thought they should have been in.

“Some crazy idea we can talk about later. Just worry about getting out of there right now.” Wrex stated firmly.

“The party isn't over yet!” James yelled as they all saw the Cannibals rushing in from what might actually be an exit.

Shepard was sick of seeing these things. It was obvious the Reapers were worried. They were throwing everything at her and her team that they could. That just made her push all the harder to achieve her goals. She tossed out a singularity then a shockwave to knock any stragglers into that micro-blackhole.

“Yes!” Garrus shouted as the path was cleared.

“Shepard, looks like we've got a bridge up ahead. Try to find it, and we'll pick you up there.” Wrex' voice came over the comm again.

“We're a little preoccupied right now!” Shepard snapped when the husks came pouring out of a crumbling doorway not far from the downed Cannibals.

“I didn't say it would be easy!” Wrex snapped back.

“I _hate_ these guys!” James barked as his assault rifle chattered away.

“I don't think they particularly like you either, James.” Garrus snarked as he dropped a bulbous rachni that came waddling into the 'room' with his sniper rifle.

“You know, I'm just gonna call these things Ravagers....” James grumbled.

“Why?” Garrus asked.

“'Cause they tear up everything in their path, bro. Have you seen what they do to human flesh? I've seen the injuries, but never saw these things until today.” James explained.

The last one went down quicker than expected and Shepard cautiously stepped out onto a bridge. She thought it must be the bridge Wrex had mentioned. Her gun snapped up the second she saw the krogan statues along the sides. It took her mind a split second to recognize them as statues and not Brutes. Her heart was hammering at that realization. This war was starting to take a harder toll on her than she wanted to admit. It was wrecking all of them, if she was honest with herself. Garrus, as much as he denied it, had horrible nightmares after some of these runs. That was not to mention the nightmares she still had. She could only imagine how the rest were coping.

A quake shook the bridge and staggered her nearly to the edge when Wrex' voice came over the comm again. “Shepard, we're coming under the bridge! Get down here, and we can get to the Shroud.”

True to his word, she saw what remained of the convoy heading for the bridge. Another quake hit as she neared the broken edge. “It's getting rough up here.”

“Wait... Kalros!” Wrex barked sounding a bit more frantic than she thought she had ever heard from him.

“Wrex?” Shepard yelped as the quakes grew.

“Break off! We're getting out of here!” Wrex all but shouted.

Shepard's eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lungs at the sight of the giant thresher maw slithering it's way through the gap in the bridge ahead of her. Everything happened at once then. She heard Mordin's comment about territorial instinct in the thresher maw as a side note to the rumblings of the 'worms' passage. The quake from its movement knocked the commander off her feet. Garrus reached down and helped her back up the moment the beast had passed through.

“She's not gonna get us!' Wrex barked.

Looking around, Shepard finally realized the only way out was across that gap. She took off running and jumped over it. Her team followed, Garrus grumbling darkly about her recklessness. She thought she heard him growl something about a stroke and she had to wonder if turians could fall victim to those.

“Go on ahead, Shepard! We'll try to shake this thing and find you!” Wrex yelled over the comm and she thought her eardrums might burst.

Coming to the crumbling edge of stone near the ground, her eyes followed the convoy and the giant thresher maw baring down on it. The quakes continued, clearly generated by the giant 'worms' movement now. It was the biggest maw she had ever seen. She now understood why the krogan had named and exactly why they called it the 'mother of all thresher maws'.

“Thresher maw getting closer!” Mordin shouted frantically.

“Tell me something I don't know!” Wrex yelled back at him.

“Metal in truck an excellent iron supplement for maw's diet!” Mordin just had to come up with something.

That frantic comment drew a chuckle out of Shepard in spite of the current circumstances. She loved that silly salarian scientist. He was like a father, albeit an awkward, sometimes annoying, and tone deaf father. Still, the Normandy would not be the same without him if he had not come aboard on Sur'Kesh.

“Now I'm kind of glad we're _not_ in the truck.” James said as he stopped near the edge beside her.

“And the thing is, I bet Wrex is _enjoying_ this.” Garrus said smoothly.

“You know he is. It's that twisted krogan sense of excitement.” Shepard nodded as she rounded a corner and came into some sort of square with several krogan statues lining the way.


	41. Alarmed Yet Entertained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Cannibals. They were some of the worst the Reapers threw at them.

“Now where do you suppose we are?” Garrus asked, looking up at those towering figures.

“Looks like a memorial.” James suggested.

“I think you're right...” Garrus nodded as he glanced down at the pedestal one of the statues stood on. There was a plaque at the feet, but any writing was long since worn away.

Shepard moved forward cautiously ahead of him. She took the stairs before her two at a time until she reached the top a short flight away. He watched her movements closely. This mission was wearing her down, he could see the tension on her face when she glanced back at them. Sweat beaded across her brow and ran down the sides of her face from the heat. Her hair was stuck to her head, nearly soaked in it. A few strands had escaped her bun to blow in the wind.

Those were just the physical signs that anyone could see. What he saw was in the sharpening lines between her brows. Her eyes looked haunted when she glanced back at him. Her lips were pursed into a sharp slant and her hands gripped her pistol as if it might decide to attempt an escape. There were other tells he saw as well, things only another biotic would notice. Her skills were waning, weakening with her near exhaustion. He knew that was why she had resorted to her pistol more often through this mission. She had been trying to conserve as much of that energy as she could for whatever was to come when the finally reached the Shroud.

“Heads up! They're back!” James shouted the second they topped those stairs.

“I'm on it!” Garrus shouted back as he ran for cover to Shepard's left. He meant to take down whatever he could and quickly.

More Cannibals. They were some of the worst the Reapers threw at them. These things ate the dead. They did not seem to care exactly what species they were eating either. Trouble was, none of them dropped over from dextro intolerance when the ate a turian or a quarian. He knew they had once been batarians and batarians were levo-based. The fighting was intense in this space and he wondered if they were actually going to make it out or not for a moment.

“Shepard – Wrex busy driving truck! Are you still alive?” Mordin's voice came over the comm.

“Doin' what we can! What about you?” Shepard asked as she ran for more cover closer to the enemy.

“Alarmed yet entertained. Kalros is  _ quite _ persistent.” Mordin answered.

Garrus thought the salarian had gone completely insane. Maybe he banged his head in the truck with all the bouncing. Wrex did not put him in the mind of the safest of drivers. He thought maybe the krogan had taken lessons from Shepard.

“Wreav, stick close!” Wrex bellowed over the comm.

“Drive faster!” Wreav bellowed back. “I can smell the damn thing's breath!”

The husk came out of nowhere and grabbed Shepard around the throat. Garrus was close and closing as it lifted her off her feet. His new omni-tool had come with the blade fitting and he extended it now. Dropping low, he slid across the smooth paving stones and tore the blade through the husk's middle. It dropped the commander as it fell in two directions.

Following through with his slide, Garrus wheeled around and regained his feet, rushing toward his bondmate. One hand was around her throat as she coughed slightly, bending over to catch her breath. She raised up as he drew near and put her other hand on his shoulder with a nod as she dropped the hand around her throat.

Garrus charged a couple of heat syncs and tossed them at the running horde of husks. He checked his supply and realized he was running low. They needed to end this and soon. His eyes widened as he watched Shepard reach up and grab a husk from over a makeshift barricade. She slammed it into the ground at her feet and drove her omni-blade through its head with a grunt.

The next one that came close found her blade through its eye. Her biotics were all but exhausted if she was resorting to hand-to-hand combat. He knew how little she liked that style of fighting. Skilled though she might be, she rarely relied on that style.

“Crap...” he growled under his breath when he heard the distinctive tones of a mechanically augmented turian voice.

Garrus did not bother to draw attention to the Marauder. He would have put a hole through its head if Shepard had not sidled up toward it and grabbed it as she had the husk. The turian cringed when his bondmate hauled the Reap-spawn over the stone and slammed it to the ground. A heartbeat later her omni-blade went right through its eye with a grunt. She was dripping sweat now.

The next Marauder went down to a rain of bullets from Vega's assault rifle. The man was sneering at the Reap-spawn, his teeth bared and face contorted in a look of rage and hate. There was no doubt what he felt about their opponents.

“Shepard, we've almost lost Kalros! Get down from there and we'll find you!” Wrex' voice blared over the comm again as they made their way around the memorial ruins.

The turian had thought the coast was clear for a moment. It did not last. One final Marauder stepped out into the open and fired on them. The shot took Vega in the leg and he went down with a yelp. Garrus turned back to help his fallen teammate while Shepard ran the Marauder through with her omni-blade. A moment later, she joined him.

“How bad is it?” she asked, kneeling down.

“Not bad.” James grunted as he tied off a field dressing around his upper thigh. “Think it just grazed me.”

There was not much blood, but Garrus knew that could go either way. He meant to take it as meaning good things for Vega since it was not a gut wound. So long as the man could still walk, they were into something. He wasted no time in helping James up. Heavier than he looked, that was what the man was. It drew a grunt out of the turian to haul him to his feet. He had not realized a human could be so heavy. After all, Shepard weighed less than the average female of his species and he knew exactly how strong she was.

Once the man was on his feet, he nodded and took his own weight. Limping, he followed Shepard toward the edge of a section of fallen stone slabs. Garrus drew up the rear this time, keeping an eye out for more enemies as his bondmate dropped down toward the sand. He helped Vega down and then followed himself.

“Shepard, get over here!” Wrex called over the comm as the convoy pulled into the open space before them on the sand. “Wreav, keep an eye out for that maw! I don't want it sneaking up on us!”

“Make it quick, Wrex!” his brother snapped. “We're exposed!”

“Move it!” Shepard called as she stepped off the safety of the stone and ran for the truck.

Garrus grabbed James and hauled his arm over his shoulders. He got no argument as he ran the man across the sand to the truck. The moment they were within range, Shepard reached out and grabbed his other arm, all but shoving him through the hatch. Her eyes trying to scan every direction at once.

A geyser of sand erupted not far away. Shepard's eyes locked onto it and widened. “Shit!”

“It's Kalros!” Wreav snapped over the comm.

“Move, Shepard!” Wrex almost sounded frantic.

The maw rose up and dove back toward the sand between the trucks as Shepard threw herself at the truck's hatch. Garrus pulled her in and slammed the hatch shut behind them, arms wrapped around her. His heart was pounding so hard against his keel that he was sure she must feel it through their armor.

“We're in! Go!” Shepard snapped as she disentangled herself from her bondmate's arms and legs.

The truck lurched forward as Wrex clearly stepped on the gas. Shepard stumbled and Garrus braced her as he stood behind her. He silently begged the spirits to allow them a swift escape from becoming an appetizer.

“What about Wreav?” Eve asked quietly.

“No way he survived that. And he was a pain in the ass, anyway.” Wrex growled from the driver's seat. “Now let's finish this. There's a Reaper waiting for us.”


	42. Tuchanka's Temper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard glanced to the left and wished she hadn't. The Reaper was firing its primary weapon... at her!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter here.

The Reaper roared as they rolled up on the shattered ruins surrounding the Shroud facility. Garrus was the first one out of the truck. Vega followed him, limping quickly forward to stare up at the Reaper beyond. Shepard stood her ground just inside the truck for a moment.

“I hope somebody has a Plan B.” Vega said thoughtfully.

“I know we've beaten the odds before...” Garrus let out a breath and shook his head slightly. “But getting to that tower... I don't know.”

Wrex stepped up to stand abreast of the turian and glanced at him. “We're curing the genophage no matter what it takes! Everything my people will ever be depends on it.”

Sliding out the hatch, Shepard hit the broken paving stones with a solid thump. She walked over to the rest, eyes locked on Wrex. “Then I hope this idea you were talking about is a good one.”

“It was  _ hers _ , actually.” Wrex said, indicating Eve.

“Kalros. We summon her to the Reaper.” Eve said simply with a nod.

“Would that even work?” Shepard asked skeptically as she crossed her arms.

“Already discussed strategy. Just need to distract Reaper – draw it from tower while cure synthesized, released.” Mordin stated as he opened his omni-tool and tapped in a few keys.

“What makes you so  _ sure _ she'll come?” she locked eyes on the salarian and asked.

“Legends say she is the mother from which all thresher maws spawn.” Eve elaborated. “This is as much  _ her _ home as ours.”

“If Tuchanka has a temper, Kalros is it. Nobody's ever faced  _ her _ and survived.” Wrex put in.

Shepard nodded thoughtfully. “We flew through the Omega 4 Relay and survived. We can do this.”

“That's the spirit, Shepard!” Wrex said with a huge smile spreading across his face.

“ _ How _ would we summon her?” Shepard finally asked. She had no idea if this crazy scheme even had a chance of working, but she was willing to try.

“The tower was built in an arena devoted to Kalros' glory. The salarians thought she would scare away intruders.” Eve gave up a bit of information, but Shepard knew there had to be more. She was starting to think of Grunt's rite of passage on a much grander scale.

“Appears to have worked.” Mordin nodded.

“There are two maw hammers in the arena, the largest in existence. If you can activate them, Kalros will come.  _ That _ should distract the Reaper.” Eve offered.

“Meanwhile, laboratory nearby. Will finish synthesizing cure.” Mordin pointed toward the facility before turning back to face the rest of the group.

A sudden chill gripped Shepard's spine in icy fingers and she looked to each of them in turn. Her words were slower, thoughtful as she spoke to them. “Let's make sure we get out of here alive. We're gonna have one  _ hell _ of a story to tell.”

“Wait – ” Wrex suddenly barked just as she was about to head up into the ruins. “I want you to know, that no matter what happens... you've been a  _ champion _ to the krogan people, a  _ friend _ of Clan Urdnot... and a  _ sister _ to me. To every krogan born after this day, the name 'Shepard' will mean 'hero'!”

Wrex had stopped before her and took her hand in a firm show of friendship. He shifted the grip and brought their hands up between them in a sign of respect for clan. He nodded and thumped his fists together the moment he released her hand. “ _ Now _ , let's show them why!”

“Shepard...um... sweetie.... we've... uh... we've got a problem.” Garrus called as he raised his assault rifle facing behind her.

Shepard turned and did a double take, eyes narrowing as several Ravagers crested the hill behind them. “ _ Dammit! _ ”

“Go! I've got this!” Wrex growled and ran toward the rachni. “I AM URDNOT WREX, AND  _ THIS IS MY PLANET! _ ”

The krogan tore into the rachni like a savage as Shepard and her team headed toward the tower. She called to Mordin and Eve before turning to run up the slope. “See you on the other side.”

“Stay alive, Shepard. Will have cure ready.” Mordin nodded with a smile as he and Eve headed toward the lab.

Shepard nodded thought she knew the salarian could not see her. His back was already to her. Turning her attention back toward the ruins and the Shroud facility beyond, she headed up the crumbling ramp determinedly. A large fallen pillar blocked her way and she got a good grip on the pitted stone before vaulting over it. Her team followed quickly behind her.

“Let's get in there!” Shepard nodded to each of them before stepping forward along the stone littered path.

They had only taken a handful of steps before one of those Reaper-spawn bombs dropped before them. _God, how I hate those bastards!_ Shepard had never hated a sight more than those flaming pods that split open on impact and spilled a host of Cannibals or some other abomination created by the Reapers. This time, it was Cannibals for a certainty, she realized as she took cover against the leg of a fallen statue.

Tossing out a singularity, she snared most of the unit. She took out a couple of those nearest that singularity with her pistol. What she missed, Garrus nailed with his sniper rifle. She smiled at his continued enthusiasm when he hooted one of those choice phases he had adopted. At this point, she had realized exactly why he did it. He was turning it into a game of target practice to keep himself sane. She knew what taking down husks did to her own state of mind. They had been human once, with lives, families, hopes and dreams. The same was true of any of the abominations they took down now. Their species did not matter, they had been people before the Reapers had come.

Glancing toward James, the thought occurred to her that he might not make it to the Shroud. She wondered where they could leave him and retrieve him later. Once this area was cleared, he might safe here. It was defensible, after all. He was sweating profusely, she could see the sheen across his face plain as day from five feet away.

“Shepard, I took care of those rachni!” came Wrex' voice over the comm. “But someone has to raise those maw hammers before you can use them!”

“We're kinda busy right now, Wrex!” Shepard barked as she took out two more Cannibals with her pistol.

“Lucky for you, I'm here – I'll handle it!” Wrex growled back and she could have sworn there was a laugh in his voice.

Vaulting over the broken leg of the statue, she stepped up to a Cannibal that was still twitching and popped a round through the back of its head. Looking up from there, she tried to figure out their next move. The way forward was blocked by some kind of wall that had collapsed across the avenue.

“Here! Over here, Lola! There are stairs!” came Vega's voice from her left.

Shepard looked his way and wondered when he had crossed behind her. _Sloppy, you're getting sloppy! Better snap that alertness back in place, pronto!_ Losing focus was the quickest way to get herself killed. She was tired, but not yet exhausted. It was coming though, she could feel it around the edge of her awareness. That numbing feeling of fatigue was going to slap her down all too soon. That was the reason she held her biotics in reserve now. Those skills were draining. Much more so than firing a few rounds of weapons fire.

“Alright, stay sharp, guys.” locking eyes on Vega she nodded at him. “Can you go on?”

“Yes, ma'am!” he barked and puffed up his chest a little.

Shepard glanced down at his left thigh and saw the red stain was growing across the strip of t-shirt he had clear ripped from under his armor. She had wondered what he had used to tie around the leg. Locking eyes with him again, she nodded, but held up a finger. “The moment that's too much, you stop. Find a secure, defensible location and dig in. Is that understood?”

“Loud and clear, Lola.” Vega nodded with a smile and limped up the stairs ahead of her before she could say more.

The moment they topped the stairs and came into a half covered corridor, Mordin's voice came across the comm. “Shepard, some luck! Original strain in storage. Preparing cure now.”

“Make it quick, Mordin. They're all over us out here!” Shepard growled as she continued into the semi-open corridor, pistol at the ready.

Stepping fully into the open, Shepard ran for cover. She heard Garrus' feet pounding heavily right behind her. James was bringing up the rear with a limping gate.

“Holy shit! Off to the left..” James yelled.

Shepard kept running and jumped over the gap in what had quickly become a bridge. She glanced to the left and wished she had not. The Reaper was firing its primary weapon... at her! Attempting to run back toward the way she had come, toward cover, she was forced to duck down as the beam ripped up the stone all around her. The section of the bridge she was one gave way and she had no choice but to dive for the stone strewn ground below. The impact was bone-jarring and she grunted, rolling away from more falling debris.

“Shepard!” Garrus yelled, dropping down several feet away and stumbling toward her as she climbed to her feet.

Nodding, she gripped his forearm as he drew near enough. She looked around for Vega and saw him half sliding down a slope of collapsed boulders. “Everyone alright?”

“Fine here. Mostly.” Garrus nodded.

“I just got shot by a Reaper!” James seemed to be coming to terms with the magnitude of what they were facing.

“Consider that practice.” Shepard nodded with a smile as she moved off toward an opening in the fallen support pillars around them.

“Ok, Shepard – I raised the hammers!” Wrex called across the comm once more. “You have to activate both of them! My advice is to avoid the giant laser!”

“Funny, Wrex! Real funny!” Shepard grumbled as she climbed up a set of crumbling stairs and saw one of those hammers climbing high into the sky.

“Ha-ha...” Wrex laughed. “You got this!”

Looked back at her team before she climbed the last few feet of stairs, she realized Vega was done. This was as far as he was going on foot. If that Reaper fired its primary weapon again, he was likely to get caught in it. This was going to be the hardest part and he was not up to the challenge.

“Alright, Vega. You're staying here. Get to cover and defend yourself. We'll come back for you once the cure has been released.” Shepard said in a sharp tone of command.

“I can do this!” Vega protested and whatever else he was about to say froze on his lips at the withering look she gave him.

“That was an order, Lieutenant.” she growled at him.

“Fine.” Vega finally relented and tucked himself into a defensible position near the top of the stairs. “But I'm covering you as much as possible until you're out of sight.”

“Fair enough.” Shepard nodded and took those last few stairs upward.

The moment she was out in the open again, she was forced to run and duck into cover. The Reaper beam chewed up big chunks of stone around her. The ground shook with the force of that beam and she rolled as she lost her balance in the quake.

“You've got to be kidding!” Vega shouted as he was forced out of the cover he had chosen to tuck himself into.

“Just keep moving!” Shepard shouted over the roar of the beam and flying stone. She pointed at Vega, realizing there was no choice now. He had to follow her into this mess. “Stick to cover!”

“Are we really doing this?” James yelled back as he ducked into cover across from her, his hand briefly holding his left thigh.

“Don't stop!” she yelled back. There was no turning back now, she realized as she glanced up at the Reaper towering above them.

It was a harrowing sight, that Reaper. Against the background of green sky it was poisoning, it raised up a fraction searching for them. The red 'eye' of its primary weapon charged and ready. She had thought the proto-Reaper in the Collector base had made her feel small. This thing made her feel completely insignificant, a speck of dust in the wind by comparison.

Glancing back the other way, she heard the sounds of fighter engines before she saw them flying over. Turian fighters and they were firing on the Reaper. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight. She noticed a smile spreading across her bondmate's mandibles at the sight as well. If nothing else, his people were diligent and stubborn. They did not know how to quit. Did not know the meaning of the word.

“Commander, this is Artimec Wing!” the wing commander called over the comm even as his unit surged toward the Reaper. “We'll try to give the Reaper something else to shoot at!”

“I knew they wouldn't give up.” Garrus nodded in clear pride and satisfaction.

Shepard gripped his armored shoulder as he edged in close to her. He ducked his plated brow to her forehead briefly before darting between the pillars they had sheltered against.

“Now that's some damn balls!” James hooted as he too watched the fighters zipping in and out of range of the Reaper.

“Go! Let's push ahead!” Shepard barked as she followed her bondmate through the gap.

They barely made it half a dozen yards when Vega shouted. “On our left! One of the hammers!”

“Second one's on the right!” Garrus called just as another of those flaming pods of Reap-spawn hit the ground.

“Dammit! We've got company!” Shepard barked as she tucked herself into cover.

“Getting to 'em is gonna be the trick!” James growled as he fired his assault rifle in a wide arc ahead of them.

As the dust settled, Shepard realized a Brute had been dropped and it was rushing straight for Garrus. The turian was scrambling toward cover even as she cut loose with her pistol. The weapon was getting her nowhere fast, but she could not risk a shockwave with him so close to the blast radius. He was climbing over debris, firing on the Brute with his assault rifle.

With a yell of rage and desperation, Shepard gathered her biotic energy and rushed the monster. She hit it with the same kind of blast she had used on those pods in the tunnels of Utukku. It did not feel like her usual biotic skills. It was more focused, stronger and came from somewhere deeper. Her rage fueled it, rage that this Reaper bastard would threaten to destroy the one bright spot that existed in this hell for her. She refused to stand by and allow that to happen.

“This is crazy!” Garrus shouted as he stopped just out of reach of the Brute.

It locked its cybernetic eyes on Shepard the moment it staggered under her attack. She rolled out of the way when it charged at her, firing her pistol at it. Her biotics were all but exhausted after that last attack. Climbing up on a boulder, she took note of her team continuing to fire on it as well.

The thing got close and she launched herself off that boulder, her omni-blade already free of its sheath. She let out a yell and crashed down on the Brute with everything she had. The blade slammed into the base structure that supported its neck and she twisted it viciously before rolling down its back. It fell just as she came back up to her feet.

“Oh fuck....” she breathed as her eyes fell on two more of those monsters, one charging at her.

“Concussive shot ready!” Garrus shouted, having dropped on the top of the boulder to sight down his scope. He was aiming at the one charging her.

Shepard rolled out of the way and the turian fired the biotically charged heat syncs he favored over standard ordinance. It staggered and turned toward him. A few seconds later, he fired another round at it. She kept firing at it as well. It staggered again and turned to charge at her just as the turian hit it with something else.

It fell at her feet, clipping her shoulder on its way down. She staggered away from it and glanced down at the gouged dent in her armor. No blood, she was fine. That was more than she could say for her shoulder pad.

James was taking on the third Brute from cover. It rushed the broken pillar he had tucked himself behind. Shepard and Garrus both unloaded on it as it slammed into the stone. James was forced to move as that pillar split apart. It went down easier than the other two and she suspected it must have cracked its skull open with that hit.

The Reaper roared above them the second they began moving forward again. Shepard ran for the nearest cover to regroup her team. Garrus pressed himself against the stone to one side and James to the other. She glanced between them with a smile and a relieved laughed. Dirt and sweat covered all of them.

“We need to activate those hammers.” she said with a nod as they caught there breath in the lull between battles. Looking to her bondmate, she thought hard on what she was about to ask him. “Think you can make it to one on the right?”

Garrus glanced around the edge of their cover before looking back to her with a nod. “I'll give it my best shot.”

“Wait... James, you're sitting this one out... right here. With that leg, you just don't have the speed. I'll run for the hammer on the left. We activate them as soon as we reach them.” Shepard nodded and looked toward Vega. When he nodded, she looked back at her bondmate. “You sure you can handle this?”

“I'm turian, Shepard. No retreat, no surrender... remember... I'll _make_ this happen.” Garrus growled and started to step away.

Shepard grabbed his forearm and drew him toward her. He took the hint and pressed his mouth plates to her lips briefly. His forehead bumped hers and his eyes locked with hers. She growled before releasing him, “Stay safe!”

“I'm a rebel, Sweetheart...” he hummed before taking off toward the hammer.

“Get a room!” Vega grumbled.

“Got one, thanks.” Shepard snarked before running toward the hammer she had chosen to activate.

A few minutes later, she heard Garrus yell over the comm. “Got the first hammer! How's that cure coming?”

“Almost have cure! Eve's vital signs dropping! Trying to compensate!” Mordin's voice came across the comm a moment later.

“Shepard, get that second hammer going!” Wrex bellowed through her ear and she thought he was going to rupture her eardrum.

“There's a _Reaper_ in my way, Wrex!” Shepard yelled back at him as she ran and dodged one of said Reaper's 'feet' trying to stomp on her. It was a shock to realize the thing had resorted to the most physical of attacks now.

“I know! You get all the fun!” he laughed.

The Reaper's 'foot' came down again mere inches from her face, kicking up buckets of dirt. She ducked back and waited for that 'foot' to lift again. The moment it was clear, she ran for all she was worth toward the device at the end of the path.

The moment she hit it, it sank into the pedestal and she turned back toward her team. Running hard, she managed to make it back to the wider space they had fought off the Brutes in. The guys were coming her way, Vega limping hard and Garrus supporting him now.

“Go! Get back to the truck! I'll take care of the cure!” Shepard motioned toward the direction they had come in from as she ran past them.

The sound of the dual hammers hitting was almost deafening. It vibrated through the ground and right up her legs as she watched the guys turn back toward the truck. She felt more than heard the rumble at first, the quaking that signified Kalros' arrival. Her eyes locked on the Reaper for a moment as she moved to a better vantage.

Stopping, she saw Kalros in the distance as well as heard the worm's cry. The Reaper was more concerned with it than the commander. It roared and began moving toward the thresher maw. It fired a beam at the maw as it dove into the sand, missing. A moment later, the maw burst from the sand and gripped the Reaper's bulk between it's jaws.

As the Reaper fired once more, Shepard chose that moment to dash the other direction. This fight was going to get ugly and she had not desire to be crushed in their struggle. Skidding to a halt against a low wall, she shielded her face with her arms as debris flew in every direction when the pair fell to the ground just a few feet from her. Her heart was in her throat as they swept over her.

Scrambling to her feet, she saw a clear shot and ran for it. Jumping out over nothing, she pinwheeled her arms before barely landing on the edge of what had once been a bridge. The crash behind her was thunderous and she glanced back in time to see Kalros sliding down the frame of the Shroud. The Reaper had spun her around and tried to shake her off. It fired at the maw once more before the worm disappeared beneath the sand again.

As the Reaper tried to track the maw's movements, it clearly miscalculated. The maw sprang from the sand and latched onto the Reaper's back, knocking it to the ground. Shepard watched in awe as Kalros wrapped herself around the Reaper's frame. It reminded her of a boa constrictor the way it squeezed the Reaper. She dragged it beneath the sand with her as explosions erupted from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get the hankies ready for the next chapter... It's gonna get ugly.


	43. Had to be Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordin is ready to sacrifice himself for the genophage cure and he wasn't going to let Shepard stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Mordin took this in a very interesting direction.

Mordin hovered over his work, protecting it as dust fell from the ceiling. Clearly there was an epic fight happening beyond those walls. The facility shook and the screams of the creature he knew must be Kalros bellowed through the very building. He glanced at Eve sitting in the only chair he had found that was not broken. Her vitals had stabilized the moment he had enough of a tissue sample to work with.

“Need more time, seconds only... cure... nearly ready.” he muttered under his breath as he trained his eyes on the ancient centrifuge before him. Looking back to Eve, he realized she needed to leave now or she might not make it out. He pointed toward the back of the room, a darker section devoid of windows. “Must go now. Safe way out back that way. Head for truck.”

As Eve nodded and stumbled in the direction he had indicated, the centrifuge chimed and stopped. Mere seconds after, he popped the lid and grabbed the vial. Jogging over to another unit in the wall, he tucked the vial inside and sealed it in. tapping a couple of keys, he realized he would need to return to the central control room. There was little time to spare. The cure would only be viable for minutes.

As he jogged into the larger room, he saw Shepard entering from the doorway above. _Good, still alive. Need her to ensure escape route_. The tower above them shook, but he did not look up as he keyed in the critical commands that would vaporize the cure. He heard glass breaking as chucks of stone and debris fell from on high. There were explosions sounding from above as well. The tower had taken more damage than anticipated. He worried this might not work at all.

“Mordin, is the cure ready?” Shepard asked as she came running toward him.

“Yes. Loaded for dispersal in two minutes. Procedure _traumatic_ for Eve, but _not_ lethal. Maelon's research _invaluable_.” Mordin grudgingly admitted. His former student had bridge a gap between proteins that he might not have seen himself.

“She's ok?” Shepard asked sounded hopeful.

“Headed for safety now.” Mordin confirmed as he continued to tap keys frantically. Now was the moment he thanked the ancients for the gift of cybernetic hands. His organic hands might not have been fast enough to type as quickly as he needed to. “Her survival fortunate. Will stabilize new government should Wrex get any ideas. Good match, promising future for krogan.”

“Damn!” Shepard barked hoarsely as a big chunk of something feel through the skylight, hitting the ground just a few feet away.

She flinched away from the impact and the flames, he did not. It was inconsequential when compared with the work he was currently doing. His fingers continued to fly over the keys. _No fear, no anxiety, no doubt, no time for it. Must disperse cure. Galaxy depending on turian-krogan alliance._

Glancing up at Shepard, he nodded faintly. She would not approve of what he knew must be done next. The readings scrolling across the screen before him were stark, unforgiving. The cure would fail if he did not go. The temperature was not adequate to maintain viability. That was not entirely due to the sabotage. The remote connection had been severed by the damage to the tower. Damage he suspected had been done during that epic fight he had missed. _Would like to have seen Kalros take down Reaper. Must have been... incredible_.

“Control room at top of Shroud tower. Must take elevator up.” he finally said to her.

Shepard looked up at that tower, the look on her face said 'hell no, you're not'. “You're going up there?”

Taking a deep breath, he stepped away from the console he had been working on. He paced a couple of feet from and turned to face her. Nodding once sharply, he gave her his answer. It was not precisely a lie. He opened his omni-tool for good measure. “Yes. Manual access required. Have to counter STG sabotage. Ensure cure dispersed properly.”

“Mordin, this whole thing is coming apart! There's gotta be another way!” Shepard almost sounded as if she were pleading with him. She paced in place looking desperately around for an alternative.

“Remote bypass impossible. STG countermeasures in place. No time to adjust cure to temperature variance.” Turning from her as he spoke, he looked up at the tower. It was going to be a hell of a trip up with no clear way back once there. Most of what he said to her was true. STG had placed a countermeasures in his way, but he had already bypassed that. “No. No other options. Not coming back. Suggest you get clear. Explosion will be... problematic.”

Glancing back at her once, he started toward the elevator. He heard her boots hitting the floor at a quick clip to catch him then. She was going to try to stop him, but there were no options left. This was his fate, his destiny and he was ready to face it head on.

“Mordin, no!” Shepard barked from behind as she caught up to him.

The salarian stopped just inside the elevator and turned to face her once more. He shook his head, eyes glued to the floor for several heartbeats. When he finally looked up at her, he knew his eyes were filled with a singular determination she would recognize. He blinked hard once before the last sentiment left his lips. “Shepard, please. Need to do this... My project. My work. My cure. My responsibility... Would have liked to run tests on the seashells.”

“I'm sorry.” was the only thing the commander seemed capable of saying in that moment. She looked more upset than he had ever seen her. The stresses of the war, tearing her apart.

“I'm not. _Had_ to be me.” Smiling, he nodded as much to her as to himself. He stepped deeper into the elevator and hit the button that would take him to the top. As the glass door closed he finished his the statement she had heard from him a time or two already. “Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”

Mordin watched her walk away as the elevator started up. Some of Maelon's words came back to him then, mingled with his own thoughts. 'For such a smart man, you really are an idiot.' He glanced up toward the ceiling and the tower above. “Will see you soon, Maelon. Perhaps find beach in afterlife. Run test on seashells anyway.”

It was a long ride up. He had plenty of time to think, to breath, to reflect on his life. Not all of his decisions had been good ones. Not all of his work had been entirely beneficial. He did not deny the mistakes of his past. Instead, he embraced them with a deep breath as he closed his eyes. For a wonder, he was pain free during those few precious minutes of reflection. He wondered what it might be like to finally die. After all, he was well past the lifespan of the average salarian by a little over a decade. It had been a good life or so he liked to think.

Mordin let that breath out seconds before the elevator reached the top of the tower. The instant the door opened, he was assaulted by the control computer blaring an alarm. “Warning: temperature malfunction detected.”

It repeated the same warning as he walked determinedly out of the elevator toward the central console. Something exploded to his right and he threw his arm up to protect his face. The room was burning and hot as he imagined hell might be. Again, the circumstances were of no consequence. He was here to do a job and he meant to do it no matter what was thrown at him.

A second explosion to his right threw him slightly off-balance as small chunks of metal pelted him from a console across the room. He staggered to the right when something on his left exploded in a shower of glass. There were fine cuts and burns across his face as he finally reached the central console.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm, I've studied species turian, asari and batarian...” he began to sing softly as his fingers flew across the keys.

The corrections took several seconds to complete. Those were the best seconds of his entire career, perhaps his entire life. He was doing something right, something that truly mattered. Mordin realized he was correcting a great wrong his people had inflicted on the krogan and it felt... right.

“Temperature now within acceptable range.” the computer announced. “Dispersal commencing.”

Mordin dropped his hands from the keys and looked out the shattered glass at the Tuchanka sky. A smile stretched across his face as he saw the first mists of golden vapor begin to expand from the dispersal system at the very top of the tower. It need only function for a moment or two in order to seed the atmosphere of the entire planet.

All was right with his world in those precious few moments as he watched his work pour out into the air. It was a good day, even if it was his last, he realized and he began to sing again. “My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian. I am the very model of – ”

Something big exploded behind him and threw him forward over the console. He hit the wall beneath the glass, hard. Slumping down, he blinked a couple of times and realized he was not dead. The room was completely engulfed in flame, but he was not dead. He looked around for any means of escape, any opening would due, even if it took him outside. His eyes fell on a small plastic hatch that was warping from the intense heat. It looked promising.

Scrambling toward it, he ripped that hatch open and all but threw himself at the ladder he saw leading down. He muttered as he gripped the sides. “Long climb, no time, no time, no time...”

There was at least a thousand feet between him and escape. He started controlled slides so that he did not pick up too much speed. The tower shook around him and he realized he might have less time than he thought. He risked longer slide bursts, more speed. Explosion after explosion rocked the tower around him and he wondered exactly how much of the top was gone.

“Inconsequential!” he snapped at himself, allowing his slide to pick up more and more speed. Again, he thanked the ancients for the gift that was his cybernetic hands. Organic hands would have burned and blistered not only from the heat, but from the friction he was creating. He was sure his shoes were ready to burst into flames when the tower shook violently.

Glancing up, he realized he might just be out of time. Parts of the upper section of the tower were beginning to fall away. There was daylight streaming in as he continued to slide down. Part of him feared he was dead and this was his hell. He would eternally be trapped in the disintegrating tower, sliding down, hoping to escape.

The thought had nearly become his reality when his feet hit the ground. His breath caught and a sudden breathless laugh escaped him as he rammed his shoulder into a door to his right. It refused to budge so he dug his fingers into the seam between it and the wall. The metal crinkled and he forced the door open with his shoulder. He spilled out into the cloud shrouded Tuchanka sun and ran for all he was worth. Another explosion rocked the entire facility and he heard the tower crumbling down. The rumble of its fall chased him through the ruins.

As the debris of the tower rained down around him, he was thrown several feet when one of the largest chunks came down barely ten yards from him. He put his hand on his chest and panted, blinking dust from his eyes. The tower was gone, but the cure filled the air, raining down on all who stood on Tuchanka's soil.


	44. The Shuttle Awaits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tell the turians I'll be deploying troops to Palaven immediately.” That was what Wrex had said before they headed for the shuttle. It was more than Garrus had hoped for.

Shepard stood staring at the tower as it came down. She held her hand out to catch one of the golden 'flakes' that drifted toward the ground. He could tell by the shudder that passed through her shoulders that she was upset. Mordin was gone, they all knew it. There was no way the salarian had survived that.

Garrus stepped up beside her and put his hand on her armored shoulder. She drew in a breath between gritted teeth and looked up at him. He could see the unshed tears glistening in her eyes. He cupped her face in one hand, thumb wiping away a single tear that slid down her cheek as she closed her eyes.

“How many more, Garrus? How many more will we lose before this war is over?” Shepard growled out between gritted teeth. “ _God_.... Mordin just _sacrificed_ himself. I know... I know his sacrifice means life for the krogan, but.... _dammit_..!”

“It's alright to grieve. It's not a sign of weakness, Shepard.” Garrus said as he cupped the side of her face and gently encouraged her to meet his eyes.

“ _Holy_ _shit!_ Would you look at _that!_ ” James suddenly called out with a hoot and a laugh.

Shepard and Garrus both looked in the direction the man was pointing, his other hand running along his mohawk and slinging the sweat out of it. The commander let out a relieved breath that sounded suspiciously like a half sob, half laugh. The turian breathed a reedy sounding whistle.

“I told you he had a quad!” Wrex laughed.

Staggering out of the ruins was a lone salarian missing one horn. His lab coat was tattered along the edge and stained with soot as well as traces of green blood. He stopped before them and heaved a sigh as he eyed each of them with a nod. His face was covered in small bleeding cuts, scrapes and burns.

“Testing seashells... Less exciting. Less stimulating. Much less _dangerous_ than fighting Reapers.” he mumbled a second before his knees seemed to turn to jelly and he collapsed.

Wrex grabbed the salarian before he hit the ground and lowered him carefully. He rumbled with a laugh a moment later. “Still breathin'.”

“He....” Shepard began breathlessly, both her hands on the turian's shoulders as she looked up at him with a smile spreading across her face. “he made it.”

“Tough bastard.” Garrus nodded with a smile and a chuckle of his own. He glanced toward the empty skyline where the tower had stood less than thirty minutes before and shook his head ruefully.

“Tougher than any salarian has a right to be! I'm gettin' him drunk tonight!” Wrex bellowed and hauled Mordin toward the truck. “We should head back to the Hollows. The clans will be wanting to know we're finally free of the genophage.”

Shepard sobered quickly and Garrus realized a nasty thought must have struck her. She glanced up at him with a haunted look before looking to the krogan. “He'll have to disappear after this. The dalatrass may put a hit out on him when she learns of his success here.”

“Send him to the Crucible tomorrow.” Garrus suggested.

“That may well be the only place he _can_ go. At least until the Crucible is complete.” Shepard agreed thoughtfully.

“The dalatrass is gonna be too busy fighting the Reapers soon to worry about one scientist.” Wrex nodded as he and Eve secured Mordin in the truck. The krogan laughed before climbing in himself. “Get him drunk to night, send him to the Crucible with a hangover tomorrow... Ha-ha!”

The ride back to the Hollows was slower than the ride to the Shroud had been. Mordin remained unconscious through the entire trip. Garrus figured he needed the rest after the hell he had clearly gone through to get out of that tower. He was not sure he could have done it if their roles had been reversed. The salarian's dramatic reappearance after the tower crashed was like something straight out of one of the adventure stories he and Solana had read together as children when they were supposed to be sleeping.

The thought of his sister distracted him for a time. He glanced at Shepard when both of her hands wrapped around one of his. She seemed to know exactly when to bring him back from the dark thoughts his mind played out for him. He glanced down at her hands before putting his other one over them. _So small and the fate of the entire galaxy rests in them. I don't know how she keeps it together so well. In her place, I'd have gone insane_.

A smile spread his mandibles faintly a instant before they pulled to a stop. The ride back was shorter than he had thought it would be. That was probably because they had been delayed by a bridge and a Reaper on the way. Then there was the run through the ruins and the fighting. It was a wonder they had made it out alive. When he had seen that Reaper and the ruins, he had had some serious doubts about whether they would make it or not. Now it was done and successfully at that.

Wrex was the first one out. Eve followed him tiredly. He and Shepard were next, with James bring up the rear. They left Mordin in the truck. The salarian was still out of it.

“What about him?” James pointed back over his shoulder indicating the salarian.

“Leave him. Wrex will take care of him. Mordin deserves a little rest.” Garrus said smoothly.

“A long time ago, my father betrayed me in this place. His own son. He tried to kill me.” Wrex said as he walked along slowly. “So I had to kill him... right over there. That's what the genophage reduced us to. _Animals_. But you changed that _today_ , Shepard.”

“Now we'll fight _for_ our children, _not_ against them.” Eve stated. “It's just a pity Mordin isn't awake to be thanked properly.”

“I'm sure he'd appreciate the sentiment.” Shepard nodded.

“We'll name one of the kids after him – maybe a girl.” Wrex laughed.

“But you, Commander – we can thank _you_ in person.” Eve nodded.

“Tell the turians I'll be deploying troops to Palaven immediately.” Wrex paused, a huge smile spreading across his face. “And when you're ready to kick the Reapers off Earth, you let me know. The krogan are back in business.”

Garrus nodded at his friend. He would tell Victus the moment they returned to the Normandy. The primarch would relay that message directly to Palaven. With a few krogan boots on his homeworld, his people might stand a chance of at least surviving the Reaper invasion. He hoped his family was among those survivors.

“Goodbye, Commander.” Eve said, shaking Shepard's hand firmly.

“What will you do now?” Shepard asked the krogan female.

“Spread the hope you've given us. Even now there are clans gathering in the Kelphic Valley.” Eve stated solemnly. “I'll go speak to them and make sure this gift isn't squandered. _Thank you_ for all that you've done. And know that Urdnot Bakara calls you a friend.”

Garrus' head snapped up and his eyes locked on the female as she bowed her head to Shepard. He saw a slow smile spread across his bondmate's face as she nodded and turned to head for the shuttle that had remained parked at the top of the ramp.


	45. Troubled Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep stole over her without her knowledge or permission. She had barely begun to dream when the nightmare seized her.

“Hell of a thing you just pulled off, Commander. _Curing_ the genophage... I never thought I'd see the day.” Hackett shook his head.

Shepard stood before the blue holo-image almost defiantly. She took a step forward, determined to make him understand the magnitude of the other side of that decision. “Wrex has agreed to help the turians, Admiral. We should get their full support.”

“I take it that leaves the salarians out of the equation.” Hackett commented.

She shook her head. “The cost of their support was too high, sir.”

“Well, I'll defer to your judgment on that, Commander. Let's _hope_ we don't need them.” Hackett sighed.

“Sir, we did get one of the best and brightest. He'll be arriving at the Crucible tomorrow.” It was clear the admiral was about to cut the connection and Shepard delayed him.

“One salarian... I don't know what one salarian can do, but we'll take him. Who is he?” Hackett asked, sounding skeptical and curious at the same time.

“Mordin Solus.” she said simply with a crooked smile.

“I thought he was killed on Tuchanka – curing the genophage.” the admiral seemed to brighten just a fraction.

“That's what we want the dalatrass to believe. I still don't know how, but he managed to escape the tower as it collapsed.” Shepard nodded.

“Well, we'll take what we can get. One salarian may be better than none.” Hackett nodded.

“There may be others. Major Kirrahe mentioned that his STG unit was willing to support us. I've already sent him an email requesting his team's assistance on the Crucible.” Shepard mentioned.

“Good thinking. They'll come in handy. I just hope they're enough.” he paused, waiting for her to continue. “Hackett... out.”

Stepping away from the QEC, Shepard headed back into the War Room. Garrus stood next to Victus, a data pad in his hand. They both looked up at her as she came down the stairs.

“Commander, Urdnot Wrex has already begun sending troops to Palaven. You kept your end of the bargain, now I'll keep mine.” Victus said as he met her half way around the dais. He gripped her hand in a firm handshake with a nod. “The turian hierarchy will stand with humanity against the Reapers.”

“Thank you, Primarch. The only way we're defeating the Reapers is by standing together.” she started around the dais.

The primarch walked with her nodding. “That much is certain. To that end, several dry-docked ships are ready to help build the Crucible. Garrus will coordinate them.”

“Yes, sir.” Garrus nodded.

“And when the time comes to deploy it, the full measure of our fleet will be there for Earth.” Victus said, his eyes still locked on Garrus for a moment before turning his attention to the holo-image of the Crucible above the dais. Before stepping away, he nodded to them both. “May the spirits watch over us all.”

“I'll start managing turian support right away, Shepard. You must be exhausted.” Garrus commented as he watched her step toward the dais and lean on it. “Mordin, the genophage... it can't be easy.”

“I'll sleep when I'm dead.” she grumbled.

“We both know you need a clear head to win a war. There's no room for mistakes here. You should catch some shut-eye.” he leaned back slightly, eyes trained on her as she glanced at him. “Besides, I know where you sleep. We'll wake you if anything comes up.”

“If you insist.” she grumbled and realized that he actually meant to start coordinating those turian forces right then.

Shepard went straight up to their quarters. He was right, she was exhausted. Sleep was what she needed, but without him curled around her it was bound to elude her. Or worse, it might be filled with nightmares. She did not have them often with him near and for that, she was thankful.

Tonight would be different, however, she could feel it to her very core as she sat on the edge of the bed with a data pad in hand. She mean to stay awake as long as she could, look over duty rosters and supply levels, anything to stay alert.

Sleep stole over her without her knowledge or permission. She had barely begun to dream when the nightmare seized her. That burnt out forest with its shadow people and whispers sprang up around her. The boy, she could see him off in the distance. There was more this time, however. The Shroud tower loomed even further off in the distance, high above those trees.

The top of it exploded and moments later the entire thing collapsed. Mordin did not appear. That was how things could have gone, she knew. It was one piece of the dream she could turn away from. There were a hundred different ways her friend could have died, but he had survived. She would not fall victim to that nightmare.

Instead the whispers began. She heard Ash first. Others joined in, people who had been lost along the way. Some she knew. Some she had lead. Others she merely knew of. One of those voices belonged to the asari consort; Sha'ira. She pleaded with Shepard to heed her gift of words.

The boy giggled and ran off as she approached him. That was nothing new. He would do that several more times before she finally caught up to him. It was when Harbinger stepped out from a tangle of trees and shadows that she paused.

“I will tear you apart, Shepard, from the inside out, if I must. Your mind is weak. I will destroy it and leave only a husk behind.” he growled.

He approached her slowly and the air around her grew thin. The forest faded away, replaced by stars and the debris of a ship, _her_ ship. She found herself surrounded by the shattered hull of the SR-1. Her suit was hemorrhaging oxygen into the void rapidly. Breathing became impossible and she felt her lungs trying to collapse. She heard the roar of a Reaper as Harbinger grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing. The Reaper within him slipped free of his prothean avatar... into her. Every nerve ending seared white-hot at the intrusion until she thought her entire body might burst into flames.

Her scream was a ragged growl of rage and pain as she shot straight up in bed gasping. The data pad chimed softly on the bed next to her and she realized that must have been what dragged her out of sleep. She had no idea how long she had been down, but it was not long enough. Sleep was not something that was peaceful for her without her bondmate's solid presence, she realized as she scooted off the bed. She headed for the bathroom, not bothering with the lights. The fish tank provided more than enough.

Head down, she stopped before the sink and rinsed her face off with a few splashes of cold water. If nothing else, it cleared the rest of the fuzziness of sleep from her mind. Glancing up, she gasped and stumbled back at the faintly glowing red eyes that stared back at her from the mirror. The glow faded the moment someone knocked at her door. She knew it was not Garrus. He had no reason to knock. The captain's cabin was as much his quarters now as hers.

“It's open.” Shepard called after a couple of minutes.

“Shepard, there's something you need to hear.” Liara began as she came striding into the room.

“Alright.” Shepard said quietly, leaning on the countering and staring at her reflection in the mirror. She was waiting to see that glow return more than anything else. The idea that it might actually return scared the holy hell out of her.

“Is... this a bad time?” Liara asked as she stopped just outside the bathroom.

“Thinking of some friends who aren't around, thanks to this war.” Shepard never took her eyes off her reflection as she spoke.

“That's thanks to the Reapers, not you.” Liara reminded her as she leaned against the door frame. “Are you thinking about anyone in particular?”

Shepard let out a tired sigh. “This war has taken so many, Liara. If I had to name one... I'd have to say Ash, back on Virmire. She died buying us time to defeat Sovereign. Seeing what we're up against now.... she might think her sacrifice was in vain.”

“You know Ash would never think that.” Liara reminded her.

“Yeah... that's one more reason I miss her.” Shepard struggled to hold back the sob that threatened to escape. After a moment, she pushed herself off the counter and stepped to the door. “Didn't you have something for me?”

Liara stepped away from the door frame and stood before her, hands clasped behind her back. “The salarian councilor has an urgent matter.”

“Let me guess, he called the comm room?” Shepard asked, crossing her arms.

“The Council must be taking the Crucible seriously.” Liara nodded. “I'll see you downstairs.”


	46. Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things were starting to look up. Shepard only wished she could shake the nagging feeling that the other shoe was about to drop.

“Commander, there's something we should discuss... if you're finished rewriting history.” Councilor Valern said from the QEC.

“I made my decision, Councilor. There's not much _anyone_ can do about it now.” Shepard said coldly as she faced the salarian.

“Yes, we're going to have billions more krogan in the galaxy. It's a good thing you saved my life once, Shepard. Otherwise... well.” he was nowhere near as quick spoken as Mordin. As a matter of face, his speech and his expressions were closer to the average human. “I have concerns about humanity's representative, Councilor Udina. My agents have discovered he's using his authority to move vast sums of money. For what purpose, we're not sure.”

“If Udina's dirty, it's best to get to the bottom of it fast.” Shepard stated with a frown. She had never really liked Udina anyway. This news did not surprise her.

“Agreed.” Valern said coolly. “Come to the Citadel. We will review the evidence and discuss this in private. Valern out.”

“Uh... that's just what I need....” she groaned and leaned on the railing around the QEC the moment the salarian's image disappeared.

“Commander, Admiral Hackett is waiting to speak with you on vid comm.” Traynor's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Glancing down at the small console inlaid in the railing, she tapped the connection. The blue particles swirled for a second and resolved themselves into the image of the man himself. “Commander, I wouldn't have believed it, but the rachni are helping us build the Crucible.”

“You're kidding.” Shepard cocked her head to the side slightly at that bit of information.

“Turns out they have a knack for weapons of mass destruction. In hindsight, I guess they'd know a thing or two about waging a galactic war.” Hackett nodded thoughtfully.

“No problems with them, then?” she had to ask. There were any number of issues that could crop up with the rachni.

“Other than scaring the hell out of our engineers, no. Not a lot of small talk going on there either, but that's not why I contacted you.” Hackett said and clasped his hands behind his back. “There's been an interesting wrinkle. We've been getting back-channel commitments from the strike teams within STG. They're promising to back us. Mordin Solus is coordinating the whole thing. Seems he's some sort of consultant for the whole organization. If I had to guess, I'd say he was one of their commanding officers.”

“Retired, sir. He mentioned being part of STG when we first picked him up on Omega.” Shepard nodded.

“Hell of a find either way, Commander. It's looking like one salarian just might make all the difference here. Our intel suggests there are cracks developing between the military and the politicians. These STG guys know the score. They're not gonna jeopardize the entire Salarian Union because some dalatrass didn't get her way.”

“That's good news, sir. I'm glad Mordin has become such a valuable asset.” a ghost of a smile crossed Shepard's face then.

“It was a good call sending him to us. He's right where he needs to be. Completely in his element too. We couldn't coordinate these covert STG operations without him.” Hackett admitted.

“If there's nothing more, sir?” Shepard meant to make sure she had all the information he meant to divulge before cutting the connection.

“Keep me posted. Hackett out.” he nodded before his image vanished.

Things were starting to look up. Shepard only wished she could shake the nagging feeling that the other shoe was about to drop. She did not bother to call the private on her comment about the turian and krogan diplomats on her way through to the CIC. Both Wrex and Victus had departed while she was in her quarters. A fight had not broken out between them, there was no krogan or turian blood on the decks. She called that a job well done. Better that there was now an alliance between their two races.

Shepard passed through the CIC, virtually ignoring Traynor when the woman mentioned she had some unread messages. She meant to check in on Joker and EDI. It was a duty she had neglected for several days now. The AI was still working through the ordeal of being in a physical body. It could not be easy no matter what she said.

The moment she stepped onto the flight deck, she smiled at the sight that met her. The sole turian on board, her bondmate, was standing beside the pilot's seat. It did not surprise her that those two would become good friends. Between them, they had a similar sense of humor. She heard some of that now.

“Alright, my turn.” Garrus' dual-toned voice was a balm to her senses. “What's the first order an Alliance commander gives at the start of combat?”

“Uh... I give up.” Joker said after a minute.

Garrus laughed. “Correct.”

Joker chuckled at that one. “Alright, big guy. What do you call it when a turian gets killed by a horrible spiky monster?”

“Friendly fire. Come _on_ , that one goes back to _Shanxi_.” Garrus snorted and shook his head.

“Gotta respect the classics.” Joker commented.

“How many _humans_ does it take to activate a dormant mass relay?” Garrus asked thoughtfully.

“Six hundred and two. Six hundred to vote on it, one to ask for asari technical help, and one to ask for a seat on the Council afterward.” Joker did not miss a beat with his answer. “How do you know when a turian is out of ammo?”

“He switches to the stick up his ass as a backup weapon.” Garrus said smoothly. “ _Why_ does the _Alliance_ hire _pilots_ with brittle bone disease?”

“You're _shitting_ me. The turian military has one about _me_?” Joker gasped with a laugh.

“Oh, absolutely. I heard it myself from a private back on Palaven.” Garrus growled a laugh.

“Alright, _why_ does the Alliance hire pilots with brittle bone disease?” Joker asked, sounding genuinely curious how this joke was going to end.

“So their marines can beat someone in hand-to-hand drills.” the turian's answer was so lame even Shepard rolled her eyes.

“Damn, you need to tell James that one.” Joker razzed him over that one. “Hey, what's the hardest part about treating a turian who took a rocket to one side of his face?”

“Figuring out which side took the rocket.” Garrus answered, but there was a faint edge to his voice with that one.

The two males finally realized she was milling around behind them when Joker turned his chair around. “Never thought I'd see the krogan and the turians team up. Even the Reapers have to be a little nervous about pissing them off.”

“I'd say more than a little.” Garrus said with a faint grunt as he gripped the rim of his armor and rolled his head around. Shepard cringed when the turian's neck popped loud enough to be heard throughout the room.

“I'm gonna miss Mordin.” Joker said quietly.

“He's a good man.” Shepard nodded as she took a couple of pacing steps.

“Yeah, he was always running those tests. One time he tagged me in the middle of the night to ask how many livers humans had.” Joker paused and raised his left arm, looking down at the elbow suspiciously. “And this bump on my elbow? He said it was just a mild bone deformation, but I'm pretty sure he stuck a probe in there.”

Shepard smiled remembering the days of ancient human history for a moment as she adjusted her belt around her waist. “Glad it was just your elbow.”

“I always thought he was crazy. Useful, but crazy. Then he nearly gives up his own life...” Garrus sounded subdued and thoughtful. They all knew full well how quickly that last mission could have gone completely sideways.

“To save the krogan. Doesn't do much to disprove the crazy theory, huh?” Joker said sounding a bit more irritated than Shepard had expected.

They each dealt with grief differently, she knew. True, Mordin had survived, but they knew they might never see him again. Even if they won the war, he might disappear back into the fabric of destiny and become a footnote in history.

Garrus grunted out a slight chuckle at that. “I guess not. But he's one of ours.”

“So now that we've got the krogan and the turians... what now?” Joker shifted the subject to a more relevant thought.

“The krogan help us turn the tide on Palaven. They can shoot at something useful for a change.” Garrus said, clearly unable to resist adding a snark at the end.

“Dig till we hit daylight, huh? Works for me.” Joker nodded.

“So how does it feel, knowing krogan will be singing songs about you until the end of time?” Garrus took up a position at her side, walking with her as she headed toward the door. She stopped and turned to face him before they stepped through and he continued. “I'd think it would be an honor.”

“There's enough misery in this universe. It's nice to see something go right for a change.” Shepard admitted.

“Can't say I've ever really witnessed history in the making like this.” Garrus said with a slight shake of his head. His eyes were locked to her with something akin to awe shining from them. Then he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and glanced away thoughtfully. “Well, except for Sovereign attacking the Citadel. And then there was the Collector base, but... _This_ one felt good. And let's hope Wrex keeps running the show on Tuchanka. Maybe we should hire a food taster for him. Imagine the carnage if someone like that brother of his took over.”

“It could happen.” Shepard admitted softly. They all knew it could turn ugly in the blink of an eye.

“I know. It's a chance we _have_ to take, but I have to say, if it wasn't my own world that needed the help... I might have taken that salarian deal.” It clearly cost him to admit that as he let out a breath he seemed to have been holding.

Shepard locked eyes with him them. As much as she understood where he was coming from, she did not agree. “I could never bring myself to do that, no matter what I was offered.”

“It's nice when we can save the galaxy without destroying another race along the way.” he said softly and stepped forward, his fingers finding their way across the back of her neck as he ducked down to touch his forehead to hers. “Your restraint is one of the things I... uh... I admire the most.”

“Let's hope our luck holds.” Shepard said quietly as Garrus raised back up reluctantly. She might not agree with his thoughts on the salarian deal, but that did not make her love him any less.

Garrus nodded and turned, heading back to his position beside Joker. He was watching the stars fly by thoughtfully when she left the flight deck. She knew he would stay there for a time before returning to his work, or their quarters.


	47. Now Entering Zakera Ward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Warning: civil unrest has been reported in the Presidium. Zakera Ward, Tayseri Ward, Bachjret Ward, and Aroch Ward” the C-Sec VI droned. “For you own safety, please avoid these areas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some AU here in the team. Hold onto your butts... hehe.

Shepard came up to the bridge after Joker informed her there was a problem with the comm. She stopped to the side of his seat and looked out the protective shielding that served as a windshield or sorts. The Citadel sat there, moored in the middle of the Widow Nebula. It looked peaceful enough, nothing seemly out of place.

“Alliance control, this is Normandy, we're headed to bay 1-4, Zakera Ward. Are we cleared to descend?” Joker was following protocol to the letter for a change. No response came. “What the hell's goin' on down there? Even if there were a station malfunction, they'd have backups online. I got a bad feelin' here. Checking emergency channels.”

Shepard watched him key in several lines of code before he spoke again. “Hey! Yeah, this is Joker. Uh-huh. Yeah, no kidding. Commander, there's a communication from Thane. He says it's important. Think you'll want to hear this.”

Eyes narrowed, she wondered what exactly was going on. Something told her this was that other shoe she had been expecting to drop. “Put 'im through.”

“Shepard. The Citadel is under attack. Cerberus troops are everywhere, and they're in control of the docks.” the drell said quickly.

“Are you safe?” Shepard asked pointedly.

“No.” his voice, normally flanged in a similar way as a turian's, sounded muddy as if he were under water. “I had to evade their commandos at the hospital. I'm in a Presidium storefront.”

“Did Kaidan make it out?” Shepard asked. She knew he was still receiving care under Dr. Michel. They might not be on the best of footing, but she did not want to see him dead.

“We got separated. He said he had to protect the Council. I'm going to C-Sec headquarters.” Thane answered.

Frowning, she could not figure why he had chosen station security. “Why C-Sec headquarters?”

“It's been compromised, and C-Sec's response _depends_ on it. As long as Cerberus is holding the headquarters, they _have_ the station.” Thane explained.

“Makes sense. Stick to that plan, we'll back you as soon as we can.” Shepard said to him. Turning her attention to her pilot she continued. “Alright, Joker – get us _away_ from the docks and close to C-Sec HQ. We'll deploy in a shuttle.”

“Aye, aye, Commander.” Joker acknowledged and began tapping in keys as she hurried out of the cockpit.

“Garrus... gear up and meet me in the shuttle bay.” Shepard called over the comm as she headed through the CIC.

“On my way, Shepard.” Garrus answered.

There was low chatter among the flight crew as she passed through to the elevator. She gave serious thought to who should make up the third member of the team as the doors opened on the shuttle bay. There would be a lot of bullets flying. This was Cerberus they were going up against, after all. Risking EDI was out of the question even though the AI had proven a few times that she could disconnect from her new body in the blink of an eye. There was always that one time it might not work. The Normandy would be a dead stick without her.

Liara, she was good, but very young by asari standards. If she were human, she might be just nineteen now. Plus, there were times, when the woman drove her insane with irrelevant details. If Wrex was still aboard, she might have asked him to tag along. And Javik, she would cheerfully like to drown him in his 'hand washing pool'. With him it was 'primitives this and primitives that'. It was damned tiring. James was not going anywhere. That thigh wound was going to take a few days to heal even under the regenerator. That left few other options.

Finally she stopped near the weapons locker and looked Garrus over. His armor was scuffed and battle scared. If he was not so damn good at what he did, she might have left him behind just to keep him safe. In her mind, that would be tantamount to keeping her heart safe. She needed him at her six though, and she knew there was nowhere else he would agree to be.

“Who do you wanna take with us?” she asked him, still undecided.

Mandibles lowering, mouth parting slightly in mild shock, he looked up at her from the rifle he had been cleaning. The look on his face told her that he had not expected that question. She snickered at the very idea.

After a moment, he nodded to himself, his mandibles spreading in a smile. “Grunt.”

“He's still onboard?” Shepard asked feeling a little shocked herself.

“Yeah. Took over the cabin Wrex was staying in the second he left the Normandy. Said he planned to hitch a ride back to the Citadel anyway.” Garrus stated as he slung his rifle onto his back.

“Ok...” Shepard nodded feeling secure in the decision. Grunt was the next best thing to Wrex, in her honest opinion. “Call him down here.”

The smile on the turian's face spread wider and Shepard had to blink at him for a second. He reminded her of a little kid about to munch down on a bucket of candy. There were very few times she had seen a smile like that on her bondmate's face. She had learned to be a little worried when she did. It usually meant trouble.

“Yeah... yeah. Look, just get down to the shuttle bay if you wanna knock some heads together.” Garrus said into his comm as he headed up the ramp into the shuttle.”Shepard did. Uh-huh... just like _old times_ , Grunt.”

“He coming?” she called as she wiggled her fingers into a glove of her armor.

“Said he wouldn't miss it.” Garrus chuckled from the doorway of the shuttle before disappearing inside.

Smiling to herself, she grabbed her pistol and headed into the shuttle. “Cerberus has no idea what they're in for, do they?”

“None. They should just pack up and leave now.” Garrus chuckled as he took a seat.

Grunt clearly had wasted no time getting to the shuttle bay as he stepped off the elevator. The ramp creaked faintly under his weight when he climbed in. He glanced between them with a smile spreading across his face. “Somebody mentioned knocking heads together? Heh-heh..”

“You sure you're ready for this after Utukku?” Shepard asked as the krogan took a seat at the rear of the shuttle.

Rubbing the large bandage still covering his upper arm, he laughed. “I'm krogan. A little bug bite won't stop me, Shepard.”

Nodding with a thoughtful frown, she hit the panel of metal behind her three times with the side of her fist. It was her way of letting Cortez know they were ready. A moment later, the shuttle launched with a jolt. The Normandy had pulled up alongside the Zakera Ward arm of the Citadel. Any closer and the station's proximity alarms might have gone off. They did not want to alert Cerberus of their presence just yet.

The shuttle breached the atmospheric shield like a knife. That shielding was designed to permit travel between wards without bleeding off the atmosphere. They flew past C-Sec deliberately to assess the situation. It was bad. Shepard saw at least two officers fighting Cerberus troops. They did not do well against the Atlas that threw a car at them. The human went down fast. She did not see what happened to his turian companion as they flew by.

Cortez took the shuttle into one of the maintenance tunnels not far away at Garrus' direction. Her bondmate knew this ward like the back of his hand. Every street, every nook every cranny and hole, he knew them all. They needed that knowledge to get in. They could hear the sounds of combat long before the dropped to street level. C-Sec was not heavily armed enough to handled Cerberus. Combat was a relative term. They were being slaughtered.

Shepard opened the hatch as they dropped toward the avenue leading to HQ. She saw several C-Sec officers being gunned down by heavily armed troops. A turian she thought might be Palin went down before the main door. A second later, she saw Bailey go down as well.

Pulling her pistol from its holster, she prepared to drop the last few feet to the floor below. Glancing at her team she shouted over the roar of the shuttle's thrusters. “Ok, people! Coming in hot! Get to cover!”

“On it!” Garrus yelled, dropping the ten feet easily and stepping into a run for cover.

Grunt had gone at the same time, taking the opposite planter. She followed, firing at a trooper that spotted her. Three rounds, that was what it took to drop him at distance.

“Warning: civil unrest has been reported in the Presidium. Zakera Ward, Tayseri Ward, Bachjret Ward, and Aroch Ward” the C-Sec VI droned.

“Yeah, no shit.” Shepard grumbled as she moved into cover herself.

There were bullets flying everywhere. She focused her mind on the task at hand and pushed the possibilities down. There was no time to worry about the risks. If she slipped and let her mind go there, she might never come back from it. That was not an option.

“For your own safety, please avoid these areas.” the VI continued.

Looking up at the front of C-Sec's HQ, she took not of all the damage. Bullet holes, scorch marks, broken glass and blood. The blood was the worst part. It had splattered the doors, both human and turian. She knew who it belonged to. That was probably the one thing that made it so much worse.

Ducking back down, she saw Cerberus troopers dropping from the window above the door. She threw out a singularity and snared the two closest. The third she knew Garrus must have taken out. A hole blossom in the visor of the man's helmet.

Things slowed down as that man dropped. She darted from cover and went off to the side, taking out the shield generator the troopers had left behind. Her team ran for the doors. Garrus in the lead. She noticed he ran like the devil himself was chasing him. It dawned on her why as she reached the level of the doors. His old boss was lying there in a pool of turian blood.

As she drew in closer, she realized the man was dead and Garrus had moved on to the man he could still help. Bailey sat leaning against the wall holding his gut. Even with a dose of medi-gel, the man looked as if he might well black out.

“Shepard, I saw those Cerberus troops on ya. I thought you were done.” Bailey admitted. He was sweating profusely, his side bleeding heavily.

“What are you doin' here, Bailey?” she asked. She knew he was supposed to up in a posh office. Now down here slumming it with the meat of C-Sec.

“Gettin' my ass shot off tryin' to retake headquarters. Cerberus took it in the first push.” Bailey growled the obvious. He glanced up at the doors next to him. “We gotta kick them outa there. Everyone in C-Sec is flyin' blind without the network.”

“How bad's the situation? Do you know if the Councilors are alive?” Garrus asked a couple of rapid fire questions.

“They split up. I'll know more if I can get access to a terminal inside.” Bailey grunted as Shepard helped him to his feet.

“Can you get us in?” Shepard asked as she helped the man stabilize his footing. The bleeding from the bullet wound was slowing as the medi-gel did its work.

“I'll get the door.” he turned toward that door and glanced back with a half smile on his face. “I don't have top level security codes for nothin', you know. Just make sure no one interrupts me with a bullet this time.”

Shepard kept watch with her team as the man tapped in a few keys on an emergency access panel beside the door. A moment later the lockdown cleared and he tapped a couple of keys on the door's main lock. They were inside faster than they could have been without Bailey.

The moment the doors opened, Shepard and her team crept up the stairs cautiously. Each was watching a different direction, looking for any trouble that might spring up. Bailey moved on ahead to the front desk. He wasted no time setting the office chair back up and taking a seat before the console.

“Here we go. C-Sec network access, courtesy of Cerberus.” he grumbled as he spread his fingers across the keys.

“How's that gonna help?” Shepard asked skeptically as she drew up near the desk, maintaining her watch down the corridor to the left of the desk.

“Cerberus has control of the main channels, but I can set up a new one. Without it, our people have no plan and no chance.” Bailey frowned as a soft tone sounded. “Hello.”

“What have you got?” Shepard asked, edging closer to the desk to glance at the screen.

“A warning from Councilor Valern. He's supposed to be _here_ , meeting with the executor. 'Be on guard – the likelihood of betrayal from within is high...' Not a lot else, but if he's inside...” Bailey read the note and glanced up at Shepard with an obvious look of dread.

It sounded suspicious to Shepard. She knew Valern already suspected Udina was dirty, but he was supposed to meet with her. _What changed?_ She voiced that concern a moment later. “Why would he come to the executor? C-Sec has no authority over the Council.”

“That's not entirely true, Shepard. A Councilor showing up here, asking to meet with the executor... that usually means someone big's about to be prosecuted. I guess that _someone_ had Cerberus friends.”

“The councilor mentioned Udina... but that's insane. Does he even have this kind of pull?” Garrus asked as he stepped up to the other side of the desk.

“You know who'd have the answer to that? The councilor.” Bailey said, looking back to the monitor before him.

Shepard nodded. “One councilor's better than zero. Where am I headed?”

“He could be in the executor's office.” Garrus reasoned, moving around the desk. “It's a fairly defensible position, rebuilt and reinforced after Sovereign's attack.”

“You know where it is?” Shepard asked. At his nod, she headed off in the direction he had headed.

“Just a sec...” Bailey called and she turned back. He had opened his omni-tool and patched it into the network. A few keys later and he nodded. “There.. Now we can talk by omni-tool. Go!”


	48. Uncovering a Mole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> C-Sec, his old turf. Garrus knew those offices like the back of his hand, no matter how much renovation had been done.

Garrus stopped ahead of Shepard a few yards and checked his omni-tool as it pinged. Opening the channel Bailey had set up, he waited for the commander to catch up. He meant to stick close to her in here. Her biotics would wreak havoc in close quarters.

“Thane, did you hear all that?” she asked the drell after opening her own omni-tool.

“Yes.” Thane gasped through the connection. He was clearly out of breath. “I'm nearing the building, but running is difficult. I'll try to get to you.”

Moving on when she caught up, Garrus took point here. He was more familiar with the layout of the C-Sec offices. This was his old turf, after all, no matter how many changes had been made during the repairs.

Around the bend in the corridor was the main door leading in. It was centered behind the front desk and well hidden from public view. He tapped in his old access codes and the door slid open. Those codes had been reactivated the moment he had accepted his praetor status. They would remain in the system indefinitely.

The instant those doors slid open, they all saw the pair of Cerberus guards facing the opposite door. Shepard moved forward quickly, signaling them to do the same as she took cover. Garrus slipped into position quickly and leveled his rifle on the edge of the planter. A heartbeat later, his finger twitched on the trigger and one of the men went down. The second did not stand a chance as he turned to see what was going on. Grunt charged at him with a roar and slammed him against the wall in a crushing grip.

“Remind me _not_ to let him hug me.” Garrus snarked quietly to Shepard.

“Deal...” Shepard nodded with a smile before moving out of cover.

Garrus pointed toward the stairs to their left as they heard glass crunching under boots. A Centurion was working his way down the stairs, shield held high. Before he could line up the shot, Shepard hit the trooper with warp. He stumbled and dropped his shield. She rushed him, omni-blade at the ready. His head rolled to a stop at the turian's feet.

“Nice.” Garrus snarked.

It took about five shots from her pistol, but Shepard finally took out their field generator before allowing either of them to head up those stairs. The moment it was down, Grunt ran up bellowing his usual choice phrase. It was a thing of beauty to watch him tear through a few of the remaining troops up there.

Swapping his sniper rifle for an assault rifle, Garrus took out the guy closed to him who was just shaking off having been thrown against a wall. If the desks had not been attached to the floor, he was sure Grunt would have swept those aside too.

Shepard moved ahead and tossed out a shockwave at the trooper who had just set up a gun turret. She dodged and rolled out of the way the instant it began firing at her. Garrus pressed his forearm across her collarbones, or where they would be under her armor, and leaned out to fire a couple of rounds at the turret. His mandibles spread in a satisfied smile the second they heard the thing explode. There was a ragged grunt from the trooper near it, then silence.

Dropping his arm, he gripped his assault rifle in both hands and darted around the corner. The trooper was still there, all over the floor, the walls and the nearby desk. There were more where he came from, unfortunately. They were coming down from the upper level after having blown out the glass.

“Troops in the lobby. They were dug in.” Shepard said, informing Bailey of their current status.

“I can see more through the cameras. They're all over the station.” Bailey sounded almost hopeless as he gave them a full rundown of the situation.

Garrus moved toward the body of a human woman dressed in Alliance fatigues. He glanced up at Shepard and shook his head after scanning her with his omni-tool. “Entry wounds in the back of the head. Looks like a surprise, not an execution. We've got hardcore traitors here.”

“Same as Mars. Cerberus sure likes sleeper agents.” Shepard grumbled.

“A full scale attack on the Citadel is just insane.” Garrus snapped quietly as he stood and moved away from the body.

“The Illusive Man is the poster boy for the criminally insane.” Shepard commented, moving off toward one of the desks. She held up a couple of clips between her fingers and tapped them with a nod.

Garrus still envied humans and those extra digits from time to time. He was sure, if he had them, he would not know what to do with them, however. She tossed them to him one at a time and he caught them deftly. They were tucked into one of the many pouched he had secured to his armor.

The lobby was silent save for the pop and crackle of a couple of small fires burning away the few plants in the room. They came to a door Bailey had been unable to release and Shepard began attempting to bypass it. After a moment of listening to the VI drone on about how the security door had been sealed for their safety, she stepped aside and allow him to have a look at it.

The turian huffed a laugh when his bondmate stuck her tongue out at him the second he released the door with a couple of codes. He held a hand out and motioned her through that door with a faint nod. The snark, banter and playfulness in their relationship never got old.

“Who left the shower running?” Garrus grumbled as he stepped into the tiny walkway between the lobby and the main offices. The sprinkler system was pouring icy water over his head. His mandibles twitched in a shiver as some of that water managed to find its way into the collar of his undersuit.

“The small fires and explosions must have triggered this. Damn, it's cold. Let's keep moving.” Shepard shivered as her hair virtually flattened to her head.

The next door opened quickly enough without the need of a security code. The guard saw them immediately and called out a warning. Garrus shot him before he could raise his shield. The trooper went down with a splash in the standing water. Red blood streamed away from him as the sprinkler system continued pouring out water.

“One less to worry about.” Garrus growled, moving forward.

“I am krogan!” Grunt bellowed as he ran ahead and slammed two more guards into a table behind them. They bent backwards at the middle unnaturally on impact.

Once the break room was clear, the moved into a bathroom. Garrus knelt before the bodiess of a pair of human males in disgust. His voice was little more than an angry growl. “Cerberus.... Didn't even drag them out into the hall.”

Shaking his head, he stood again and glared past Shepard out the door. He had not known any of the officers they had found so far, but he knew his former colleagues. They would have stood their ground against Cerberus the moment it was clear there was an infiltration team present. He just hoped they were still alive.

Without a word, he headed back into the break room and toward the elevator. Shepard followed and took out the guy fiddling with the controls in the next room. The door was sealed, the only way in was through the broken windows. He did not wait for the trooper to hit the floor before he vaulted through one of them. Stepping up to the open panel, he kicked the dead trooper out of the way and went to work bypassing what had been done.

“Reset complete. Access enabled.” the turian VI droned the moment the power came back on the elevator on the other side of the wall.

Glancing at Shepard, he nodded smugly and turned back toward the window. Grunt beat them both to the elevator. It was clear the krogan was making sure it was devoid of Cerberus troops.

“Any survivors in there?” Bailey asked.

“None yet.” Shepard answered.

“Damn it.” Bailey sighed. “Keep lookin'.”

The elevator took them up to the second floor. The first thing they saw the second the doors slid open was another body, a human male clearly dead. Blood, bits of bone and brain stained the wall behind him. Garrus was beginning to think these head shots were more than surprise. Some were definitely executions. The guys in the bathroom and this guy certainly were.

Moving ahead of the team, the turian's anxiety level started to climb just a little. The sight of bodies littering the hall between offices did little to alleviate it. Throwing caution to the wind, he called out to those he knew. “Ridgefield? Lamont? You alive?”

A krogan hand landed on his shoulder before he could draw a breath for his next shout. “You _tryin'_ to announce our position to every _asshole_ on the station, Pops?”

Garrus glared at Grunt, one brow-plate raised in irritation. He still was not sure he liked being called 'pops'. Grudgingly, he admitted to himself that the krogan was right. Yelling like that was bound to bring Cerberus down on them. Of course he was also sure there was nothing Cerberus could throw at them that they could not handle.

“If gunfire doesn't put them on notice, _I_ sure won't.” Garrus grumbled as the krogan stepped past him.

“You have to admit, he's got a point.” Shepard said, stopping on his other side.

“Our little tank-baby grew up too fast.” Garrus snarked.

Shepard tugged the tip of his left mandible gently before moving off. “Careful. He might start calling you 'dad'.”

“Heh-heh-heh...” Grunt laughed as he disappeared into one of the offices.

Garrus snapped his mouth shut, mandibles drawing inward at that. A nearly inaudible moan rumbled through his sub-harmonics. He carefully stepped over a body in the hallway and peeked into the office opposite the one Grunt had gone into. Aside from several more dead humans, it was clear. Among the bodies, he did not see those of his friends. He did not have many, but the few he did have, he hoped had survived.

The team regrouped further down the hall and he begged the spirits that the sprinkler system would just shut off. He was soaked to the hide with cold water. It was squishing in his boots and pooling in the cowl of his armor if he stood upright and still too long. Every now and then he was forced to spill it out if he stayed in one place for a few minutes.

When the reached the weapons storage bunker, his jaw dropped. It had been completely cleaned out. He hoped C-Sec had done that. The alternative was a horrible thought. The wall just outside was riddled with bullet holes, firing squad style and a ball of ice seemed to form in the pit of his stomach. Most of the consoles in each of the offices was shorted out from the water. Even if they had wanted to access the security systems, they could not.

Garrus did find one working console tucked into a corner barely out of reach of the sprinkler system. There was a report open on it and as he read it, he let out a snicker. “Armando-Owen Bailey... Sounds more like a human curse than a name.”

“You're kidding.” Shepard said and sidled in to get a look before she cracked a smile. “Looks like this Herk guy seriously gets on his nerves too.”

“Herk's an ass. Laziest guy I've ever known.” Garrus said wondering if the idiot had managed to survive.

“Human?” she asked, clearly searching his face for an answer.

“Turian, but he should have been born a volus.” Garrus said as he flicked the screen off and moved toward the door.

The lock on the next door was flickering, shorting out and the door was 'twitching'. Garrus motioned for the others to follow him as he stepped into an office to the side. It bypassed that set of doors. They heard the gunshots barely three feet into the room, two of them. Pressing himself against the wall near the door on the other end of the room, he keyed it open. Just up the stairs from the door were two more Cerberus troopers.

“You sure we had to do that? Without him we'd never have gotten in.” one of them asked.

Shepard did not give the other a chance to answer, she tossed a warp at one and slammed the other from ceiling to floor. The sound of snapping bones was loud, echoing through the corridor. She ran up those stairs quickly once the troopers were down.

“This must have been their mole.” Garrus said as he knelt beside the body. Something about this one made him frown and roll it just enough to see the face. “Damn... I know him. This is Lamont. Guess that answers whether he's alive or not.”


	49. Enter Kai Leng

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard did not know who this Cerberus assassin thought he was, but he was not gonna get away from her. Not after what he had just done.

As soon as Garrus stood, he headed for the next door. Shepard stepped aside and allowed her bondmate to put in his access code. It made more sense than trying to bypass triple encrypted C-Sec locks. If what they had heard from the trooper was corrected, even Cerberus had been unable to do that.

The door opened and she edged her way in, looking forward and to the right, through the broken glass of several windows. Shards of glass crunched under her boots as she moved, but she ignored that, listening for 'bigger' sounds. Her nerves were on edge as if there was an electrical current in the air just waiting to jolt her.

“We've gotta be close now.” she said quietly, glancing back at her bondmate for confirmation.

“Yeah, there's a stairwell further on. Executor's office is right above it.” Garrus replied, indicating the direction with the muzzle of his rifle. “Let's hope we're not too late.”

Shepard vaulted through the broken window into a kitchen. She could hear that reporter droning on about something from a nearby monitor, but could not quite make it out. As she moved closer to the unit, she noticed the image was virtually gone, the set was broken. The reporter was doing them a favor, in a way. She was calling for assistance, but by the same token, she was alerting Cerberus to their location. It was a fifty/fifty shot as to who might respond first.

Moving back into the corridor, Shepard realized there were bodies here too. Mostly human. It seemed Cerberus was hell-bent on taking out as many of the human C-Sec officers as they could. Maybe it was just dumb luck. Or maybe it was planned. They might see those working with the turians of C-Sec as corrupted by them. She wanted to laugh at that. _It's probably the other way around_. Her eyes strayed to Garrus with that thought. He had admitted more than once, he was not the same turian she had first met here at C-Sec. She had thoroughly corrupted him and he would not have it any other way.

They did not make it very far past the kitchen before Cerberus troops stormed in. They dropped from the floor above, shattering more glass on their way down. Garrus fired at one as he dropped and the trooper simply fell on the desk beneath him, dead before he hit the floor. They were learning. Most of them were scattered far enough that a singularity would not snare more than maybe one of two at a time.

Grunt went charging down a set a stairs after one trooper that had run the other way when he had seen the krogan. Shepard chuckled at the krogan's evil sounding laugh and the trooper's scream of complete and utter terror. She could not help the mild sadistic streak her 'adopted son' brought out in her. The sound of the man being slammed into the wall below was almost deafening between rounds of gunfire.

The fighting was brief. Garrus had taken most of the guys out before they made it more than a few feet past their drop zones. Those he had missed, Shepard made short work of. Quick and clean, that was how she liked it. It made plowing through Cerberus toward the real threat so much easier.

Garrus lead them toward the executor's office quickly once they were sure all the Cerberus troops were down. There were a couple of flights of stairs leading to a door. Shepard stepped to the side, pressing herself against the way beside the door and nodded to the turian. Grunt was on the other side of the door, waiting, cracking his knuckles.

The turian stepped forward, tapped a few keys on the door, then tapped the locked before stepping off to the side himself. A heartbeat later the door opened on a small office. There were a three bodies within. One human slumped over the desk and two salarians before him on the floor.

“Bailey, looks like they got the executor and two salarian bodyguards.” Shepard said into her omni-tool.

“ _Damn..._. Alright, keep searchin'. If you see the councilor's body, don't count him out yet.” Bailey responded sounding less than thrilled.

Garrus was leaning on a windowsill looking down at the lower floor. The fact that he was almost straining to see the room was what drew her toward him. Shepard stopped beside him just as an office chair slowly rolled out from beneath a desk below. They both saw the cloak dissolve as the salarian councilor crawled out from under the desk.

“Found him. He looks unharmed.” Shepard informed Bailey the moment she was sure it was Valern.

“Get 'im somewhere safe!” Bailey ordered.

Garrus was heading for the door, Grunt hot on his heels. Shepard had turned away for barely a second when something drew her attention back toward that window. She saw what could only be an assassin drop before Valern and begin walking toward him determinedly. Without a second thought, she shielded her face and fired her pistol at the glass. It shattered and she threw herself through that window. She trickled just a little biotic energy into ensuring her landing was light enough to step into a run.

The assassin slipped around the other side of the councilor, placing him between them as he drew up his own biotic energy. Shepard had her pistol trained on him as she advanced slowly. One move and she meant to put a knew hole in his head.

“Don't even think about it.” she growled at the intruder.

“Shepard, he's going to kill us all.” Valern whined.

“That remains to be seen.” she answered coolly.

“I mean Udina.” Valern hissed between his teeth. “He's staging a coup. He's got the other councilors now – to hand over to Cerberus.”

Shepard glanced to her left as her team made it down the stairs to back her up. “Three on one, pal. It's over.”

“No. Now it's fun.” the guy said softly with a smile.

The moment the words were out of his mouth, the sound of the safety on a pistol being released could be heard through the entire room. Shepard's eyes widened at Thane stepping up behind the other man. As the fight between the two broke out, she grabbed Valern and guided him toward the rest of her team. Garrus took him and all but pushed him behind a wall that had once held a window. Grunt slammed his fists together, clearly hoping for a chance to get his hands on the dark assassin.

Shepard could not get a clear shot of the Cerberus operative. She refused to risk hitting Thane. The other disappeared, cloaked as the drell fired two rounds at the space he had occupied. They scanned the room, but did not see him.

An instant later, Shepard heard the electrical surge sound of the cloak disengaging to her left. Thane heard it as well and pointed his pistol in that direction just as the guy materialized, drawing a katana. The drell was firing at the him as the human ran toward him; and missing. Shepard knew Thane's aim was nearly as good as her bondmate's. That spoke volumes to his current condition and it worried her.

Thane ducked just as the sword swept through the air where he had been. The Cerberus assassin took another swipe and missed as the drell kicked him in the ribs. The next kick landed in his face and Thane brought his fist up, grasping his biotic energy to drive a punishing punch into the other man's face. It sent him flying and he landed on his back half way across the room.

A moment later, Thane retrieved his pistol from the floor. The other guy was recovering much faster than he should have been. Popping the heat sync, the drell took careful aim even as the other picked his sword up and crouched low. They ran for each other then and it seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Shepard gasped when she saw the end of the katana slip out Thane's back as he delivered another punishing punch to the man's face. “Thane!”

The assassin ripped the sword from the drell's body and Thane dropped to the floor in a rapidly growing pool of blood. In anger, Shepard fired at him as he ran. Grunt took off after him as well with a roar. The guy jumped over the railing and landed on the floor below. She and Grunt ran down the stairs after him. He was fast, augmented fast if the goggles on his face were any indication. Grunt drew up short of the edge when the man jumped off. She barely stopped before falling over herself.

The car seemed to rise up out of nowhere with him standing on top and she fired at him. Her shots pinged off the body of the car, missing him entirely. Glancing back, she heard another pistol firing, and saw Thane leaning against the door frame. The moment the car was out of range, she ran back to the drell. He slumped down to the floor.

“How bad is it?” Shepard asked, kneeling beside him, her hand hovering over the wound. She dared not touch it for fear of causing him more pain.

“I have time. Catch him.” Thane insisted.

“ _Dammit_ , Thane! I'm not leaving you like this!” Shepard growled.

“Shepard, what's going on up there?” came Bailey's voice.

“Go... Please... before he... assassinates... the Council.” Thane pleaded, his breath much shorter now. They both knew just how important it was that the assassin did not succeed.

“Thane needs medical help _fast_ , and I need to take care of an assassin.” she replied urgently. The last was a growl, her voice dropping as she stood and turned back toward the direction the other had gone.

“He must be goin' after the rest of the Council.” Bailey speculated.

“Get the word out – Udina's trying to seize power. I've got to get to the Council.” Shepard ordered as she moved off a slight distance from the injured drell.

“They're being taken to a shuttle pad on the Presidium. Start drivin' – I'll try to raise them on the comm.” Bailey informed her.

Shepard glanced back once and Thane waved her off. She headed determinedly toward the C-Sec car parked on the platform then. Garrus moved around the other side of it, taking the driver's seat. Grunt crammed himself into the backseat. Under different circumstances, Shepard might have laughed at the look on his face and the idea of an ancient comedy act that sprang to mind; clowns spilling out of a tiny car. Of course she would never tell him that squeezing into a car too small for him had inspired such an image.

“I've got a fix on the Council's position. I'm sending it to your car.” Bailey said a few minutes after they were in the air.

“Thanks, Bailey. We're almost there.” Garrus said as he handled the controls smoothly.

The drive was smooth until the jerk of the galaxy landed on the hood of the car. Shepard grunted with the unexpected jolt and Garrus compensated quickly. Grabbing her gun, she fired through the windshield at him as he smiled at her then ran up over the roof. Opening the door, she leaned out and continued firing at him. He threw up a biotic field around himself and thrust his katana through the car's engine. The vehicle's power spluttered and it listed sideways as Garrus was clearly having trouble controlling it.

Another vehicle drew up along side them, slightly above and the whole thing opened, revealing what appeared to be a female assassin driving. The man leaped from the roof of their car to the other smoothly. It shot away from them as they were clearly going down. Their car was on fire. Garrus fought for control as Shepard threw herself back inside. They clipped a support beam on their way down. Instead of the tailspin she was expecting, Garrus managed to pull it straight. It was a testament to his level of skill. The impact was hard, but the turian managed to keep the nose up.


	50. Chasing the Council

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grunt pulled his shotgun from his back and started blasting the Cerberus trooper ahead of them.

The car hit hard and teetered for a brief second before digging into the soil of a small garden patch. Garrus moaned hoarsely, rubbing his neck. He heard the opposite door grunt, groan and grind open as Shepard staggered out of the car. There was a trickle of crimson running down the bridge of her nose from a small gash over her right eyebrow.

“Spirits... I feel like I was kicked by a kantog.” the turian growled as he leaned forward and forced his own door open. He hissed in pain when he touched the throbbing spine on the left side of his head. His fingers came away stained blue. “Great... snapped one off. Hurts like hell.”

As he climbed out of the smashed car, he felt around in the cowl of his armor and found the smallest of the spines that jutted back from his brow plates. It was fortunately no more than the tip of the spine that acted as a shield of sorts to his temple. Still, it would take months to grow back in.

“You ok?” Shepard asked as she supported herself with her hands against the car for a moment.

“It could have been _so_ much worse.” he mumbled as he turned and watched Grunt nearly tear the top of the car off to get out.

The krogan clearly did not care for small spaces. Who could blame him though? He had been tank-bred, after all.

“Shepard? My instruments say your car's stopped.” Bailey's voice came over the commander's omni-tool.

“I'm on foot now. Any luck contacting the Council?” she asked sounding tired.

“Negative – their guards are dead. But we've still got vital signs on the Council's transponders.” Bailey replied.

“Where are they going?” Shepard demanded.

“The shuttle pad above Shalmar Plaza. Udina's with them.” Bailey sounded frustrated as he relayed the information. “If he can get them in range of that assassin, this is all over.”

“On my way.” Shepard said and vaulted over a railing.

A human woman ran by screaming and sealed herself inside one of the storefronts. She was one of the lucky ones by the look of the walkway ahead. There were others running from the chaos, but many others were on the floor, dead or dying. They had no choice, they moved past them. The anger at the senselessness of it all nearly swamped Garrus. His days as a C-Sec officer had trained him to 'defend and attend'. It was much the same as the motto the Alliance and their human police stood by. _Protect and serve... wasn't that their motto? And I'm going against it with every victim I pass by._ He started pinging their locations on is omni-tool to the local clinic. If there was no response, it would be rerouted to the hospital level. That made running past them a little easier to bear.

Garrus followed Shepard up one set of stairs and down another, avoiding a blown out section of flooring. The moment they came out into the open, bullets started flying. Grunt pulled his shotgun from his back and started blasting the Cerberus trooper ahead of them. Garrus had no idea exactly what the krogan had done to that shotgun, but the trooper virtually exploded. Bits and chunks rained down on the planter he had stood beside after only a couple of blasts.

Shepard wasted no time in leaping over the gap between their walkway and the next. The turian really wished she would not do that, but he knew her too well. 'Risk' should have been her first name. He knew those risks she took were what kept them all alive more than half the time.

As he jumped over the gap, he saw another human woman running from cover, screaming. She did not make it to them before she was gunned down. Shepard caught her as she fell, but it was already too late. The woman was dead. She eased her to the floor anyway and returned fire.

Breath catching, Garrus' eyes widening with his bondmate's next action. He had only seen highly trained Vanguards pull that off. She was a trained Adept. Her skill level was not supposed to be on par with any other class of training.

Shepard drew up what looked like a biotic field at first. If he had blinked, he would have missed it. As it was, she nearly blinded him with the blast of power. One moment she was there, just a head of him. The next, she was drilling the female operative ten yards away with her omni-blade and the residual blast of energy.

“We... uh... we're... going to... uh... talk about your newfound skills, Sweetie...” Garrus indicated the operative he had seen and the one he had not with a wave of his hand as he ran up to her.

“I guess Cerberus did some tweaking when they brought me back.” Shepard nodded and continued moving forward.

Firing his assault rifle at a pair of female operatives, and somehow missing, Garrus grumbled. “They don't like to hold still, do they?”

“No, they don't.” Shepard growled as she ran at one of the females. She collided with the woman and shoved her over the railing.

Garrus glanced over the railing just as the woman hit the level below. “Now there's a mess I wouldn't want to clean up.”

“I'll give it ten minutes and a Keeper will be along to take care of it.” Shepard commented.

Garrus cringed at the thought of the Keepers. “They _really_ creep me out... Too much like rachni.”

“I don't see it.” she said as she blasted through another trooper with her pistol.

“Eight limbs, buggy head, giant eyes...? You can't tell me you haven't thought 'giant spider' at some point when you saw one.” Garrus elaborated, taking out yet another trooper.

“Still don't see it. I'm not arachnophobic, lover.” Shepard smiled at him before taking off to duck into cover. She hit the cluster of troops ahead with a shockwave. A few of them went flying over the railing.

“Nice.” he commented as he tucked himself into cover near her.

The moment the last one dropped, they found a couple of dead asari in a vacant office. There was no doubt they were dead, pools of purplish blood surround each of them. They had clearly been heading for one of the maintenance ducts, however. Garrus followed the direction they had clearly been going.

“Shepard, over here.” he grunted as he dropped into the planter and the greenery below. “There's a way through.”

Shepard dropped down behind him and a moment later, Grunt followed her. They climbed into the duct and came out on a grating. The Keepers used these ducts to travel the station freely. He had seen them climbing up the walls like bugs on occasion. If Shepard has seen them like that, she might have seen the 'spider' aspect in their form.

Moving ahead of him again, Shepard ran and jumped over yet another gap. This one a blasted scorch mark in the walkway, still smoldering and weak. He followed her anyway. Grunt brought up the rear and he worried the krogan's weight might collapse it.

The climbed up to the next level and made their way back to the public area. Just as Shepard dropped into the greenery below, a Ymir mech landed on the walkway ahead with a thump that seemed to jar the entire ward. Grunt dropped down beside her. He seemed ready to take the thing on barehanded.

“Crap...” Garrus sighed as he too dropped down and dashed for cover.

“I'm at Shalmar Plaza. Where's the Council?” Shepard asked Bailey as she dove for cover beside the turian.

“In an elevator. They're tryin' to get to the shuttle dock.” Bailey responded. “Someone's followin' them. Someone with a sword.”

“Great.” Shepard snapped as she fired on the mech. Her biotics were virtually useless against that thing.

“Grunt!” Garrus yelled as the krogan took off toward the mechanical monster.

“ _I. AM. KROGAN!_ ” the bellow was followed by an earsplitting smashing sound as he plowed into the mech.

It toppled over and Shepard clearly saw an opening. She darted out of cover and ran for the mech. Jumping up onto the chassis, she aimed her pistol at the pilot. One, two, three cracks and she hopped off the frame. Garrus let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding as he joined them by the thing. The pilot's face was mush.

“Nice shooting.” Garrus nodded and stepped away from the mech.

“Got a ride for you, Shepard. Grab an elevator!” Bailey's voice came over the comm again.


	51. The Price of a Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Motioning for her team to follow her, she hopped down onto the elevator's roof, shining her flashlight all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the characters took this to an interesting place...

The second Shepard opened the door leading to the maintenance elevator, she saw the assassin walking with a couple of those sword wielding female operatives. He turned at the sound of the door and gave her a greasy smile. They stepped into the elevator and she ran for them. She missed getting to them by seconds as the doors slid shut.

“Dammit!” she snarled and hit the elevator door with her fist. A sound came to her on the next breath and she glanced to her left.

Grunt was forcing the door open to a second elevator. Taking a deep breath, she jogged over to her team and turned on a flashlight. She pointed it into the shaft and realized the second elevator was one floor below them. They did not have time to wait. Motioning for her team to follow her, she hopped down onto the elevator's roof, shining her flashlight all around.

“Ok, I'm in the shaft.” Shepard said to Bailey.

“On top of it, huh? Hang on, this'll be a fast climb.” he said, sounding a little shocked that they were in the shaft and not the elevator. “You have an advantage being up there.”

He was not kidding about the speed as the elevator suddenly took off. It unbalanced Shepard enough that she grabbed the turian's forearm. He took her elbow and helped stabilize her footing. She nodded to him the second she was sure of her balance again.

“Tell me that assassin hasn't reached the Council.” Shepard growled at Bailey.

“He's tryin', but I'm makin' his elevator stop on every floor.” Bailey let out a half chuckled, clearly proud of himself.

“Nice.” she said smoothly. It sounded like something she would have done if the roles were reversed. Glancing up, she saw the other elevator just a few feet above. “I found our friend.”

“Kill his elevator. There's a power conduit beneath it.” Bailey ordered.

That power conduit was heavily shielded against impact. Shepard and her team all fired on it and barely left a dent at first. Grunt hauled out that shotgun again and gave her a wicked smile before aiming at the modules. He fired four rounds and they shorted out. The elevator dropped.

“Good riddance.” Garrus growled beside her as he peeked over the edge and watched the elevator fall for a second.

“Incoming Phantoms!” Bailey barked.

“Is that what we're calling them now?” Shepard asked.

“Sounded good.” Bailey replied.

As the next elevator came down, Grunt fired on the power conduit and it dropped. The Phantoms, those women with the swords, never had a chance to attack. It was a small victory.

“There we go!” Garrus hooted.

“Shepard, bad news.” Bailey grumbled.

“Is there any other kind?” she grumbled back at him.

“That hit man jumped to another elevator, and he's overridden my control. He's on his way up. I can't stop him.” Bailey warned.

“I'll handle it.” Shepard replied. She knew she had no choice. He could not be allowed to reach the Council.

“Here they come!” Garrus shouted. Clearly he saw more trouble coming their way.

Grunt saw them too and took out the elevator as he had done before. Shepard knew there were dozens of those things per shaft. Each was supposed to be limited to a certain section by a few lines of code. Clearly Cerberus had overridden those as well.

“Shepard?” there was a questioning tone in Bailey's voice now.

“I see them! Jump!” she called to her team.

Shepard had barely caught her balance when bullets began flying through the roof of the elevator. She dodged them as quick as she could before the elevator stopped. _Had to be Kaidan. He's the only one with a weapon_. She realized this could go sideways in more ways than one.

“Go!” she heard his muffled yell as the elevator rocked.

Grunt jumped on the access panel and dropped with it. He stepped aside and allowed her and Garrus to join him. The first thing she saw as she hit the floor was Kaidan herding the Council toward the shuttle. It was on fire.

“Cerberus took out the shuttle! Everyone back to the elevator! Move!” Kaidan yelled. Turning, he froze when he saw her and the rest of the team coming out of the elevator.

Garrus hit the control with his omni-tool and the doors closed. She knew he had just locked it down with his security codes. That gave them nowhere to go, but the hit man could not reach them either.

Taking a couple of steps away from the elevator, Shepard aimed her pistol at Udina. She glared at him before glancing at Kaidan, who looked utterly confused. Garrus stepped up beside her on the right. Grunt was on the left glaring at Kaidan.

“Shepard? What's goin' on?” Kaidan demanded.

“Shepard's _blocking_ our escape! She's with _Cerberus_!” Udina growled.

“Put away the weapon. You _don't_ want this to get ugly.” Kaidan said carefully as he stepped between her and Udina, keeping his pistol trained on her.

“Who is this pyjack, Shepard?” Grunt growled, hitching his thumb at Alenko.

“Someone I thought I knew.” she muttered barely loud enough to be heard. To Kaidan she said, “Stand down and I'll talk.”

“ _Talk_ and maybe I'll stand down.” he growled, pistol still wavering between her and her bondmate.

Garrus had his pistol trained on Kaidan. Shepard glanced at him and lowered her own weapon. He held his threateningly for a moment longer then lowered it with a sigh of frustrated anger. She knew he would follow her orders even if he did not necessarily agree with them.

“We don't have time to negotiate. You've been fooled, all of you.” Shepard said, taking a step forward. “Udina's behind this attack. The salarian councilor confirmed it.”

“Please... You have no proof. You _never_ do.” Udina said smoothly.

“There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us.” Shepard pointed back toward that elevator angrily. “If you open it, they'll kill you.”

“We've mistrusted Shepard _before_... and it did _not_ help us.” Tevos stepped forward then.

Grunt thumped his fists together and Alenko's gun jumped toward him. The man seemed spooked by the krogan. Wrex he knew, but Grunt was a completely unknown factor. He had not been present for his 'birth'. Shepard realized the intimidation factor there might well play out in her favor.

“We don't have time to debate this! We're dead if we stay out here! I'm overriding the lock.” Udina snapped as he turned back toward the console behind them.

Shepard raised her weapon again and trained it on Udina. She could not let him open that door. If he did, the Council was lost and Cerberus won. Taking another step forward, Kaidan blocked her.

“Shepard. Look at us. This can't end well. Just... put it down.” Kaidan pleaded.

“ _Dammit_ , Kaidan...” she growled at him, hesitating. Part of her knew she should just shoot them both. It was the only option left to her.

“Councilor, get the door.” Kaidan said over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off her.

Glancing back at the elevator, she realized Udina had remote access far too quickly. He was overriding the lockdown Garrus had initiated. She was close enough to Kaidan now to see the whites of his eyes. Her finger tightened on the trigger as she heard the tones chiming behind her.

A single shot, deafeningly loud in the silence, rang out. Kaidan doubled over holding his gut and sank to the floor. Shepard glanced to her right and found the source. The look on her bondmate's face said he had had enough. He had done what was necessary, what she could not do herself. A tiny stream of smoke trailed from the muzzle of his pistol as he stared down at the man.

Tevos approached Udina and he shoved her hard enough to knock her to the floor. The moment she was down, he drew a gun on her. Shepard gathered her wits about her in the time between heartbeats and fired a clean shot through his heart. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Finally she put her gun away and stepped toward Alenko. He was still alive. That would explain why Garrus still had a gun on him. She knelt down. “Kaidan. Why wouldn't you just stand down?”

“I was doing my _duty_.” he snapped through a grunt of pain.

“ _Dammit_ , he was with _Cerberus!_ ” she grumbled at him bitterly.

“So were _you_... This... this is... better than killing the wrong man.” he gasped and locked eyes with her. There was hatred in his eyes as his brows knitted together. “I hope... the Reapers send you to... hell.”

Shepard bit her lip hard enough to draw blood when the breath rattled out of him. All this time he had been trying to get her back. All this time he had stalked her relentlessly and she had never really understood why. Now she wondered if he had meant to get back into her good graces and attempt to kill her when she was not expecting it. He might have done that out of a sense of duty too.

“Now what, Commander?” Sparatus asked as he and Tevos stopped before her.

Standing, she realized there was still a clear and present threat behind those elevator doors. “Stand back! I'll cover you if they get through the door!”

“The door!” Sparatus gasped, pointing at the sparks flying from it.

It was ironic that someone was using a cutting torched to slice their way through those doors at that very moment. There was nowhere for the Councilors to go if Cerberus flooded the platform with troops. She would have to fight them off, die defending the Council if she must. They had guns trained on the doors when they finally slid open. She frowned and lowered her weapon when she saw the men on the other side. Not Cerberus.

“Bailey?” she asked in mild shock.

“Made it as fast as we could, Shepard. Looks like you, uh... took care of things.” Bailey said, sizing up the situation as he limped out of the hallway adjacent to the elevator.

“Something's not right. You said Cerberus was targeting _us_ – where did their soldiers go?” Tevos asked almost sounding frantic as she walked toward them and stopped.

“Cerberus was _right_ here, but they beat feet into the Keeper tunnels when the figured out _we_ were coming.” Bailey confirmed her suspicion. He indicated the hallway behind him with a thumb. “Sorry, Councilor. I'll say it plain: Shepard just saved the lot of ya.”

Sparatus stepped forward then, an odd look on his face, head tilted slightly to the side. He glanced between her and Garrus before locking his eyes to hers. “Then you have saved my life twice now, Shepard. I owe you both a _personal_ debt and one on behalf of Palaven.”

“Your life came with a _steep_ cost.” Shepard said, glancing toward Udina then Kaidan's bodies. True, she felt nothing romantic towards Alenko, but she had to wonder if they might ever have been able to return to friendly footing. The loss of Earth's Councilor was possibly the harder blow.

“Do you have any idea why the Illusive Man would do this?” Sparatus asked quietly as he too glanced at the bodies of the dead.

“No. I don't.” she answered simply as she locked gazes with the turian before her. He glanced down thoughtfully and she continued. “But I plan to find out.”

Sparatus looked back up at her and nodded. He seemed satisfied that she meant what she said. Finally she saw respect in his eyes. After all the battles with the Council over proof of the Reapers, she had their attention and their approval. She hoped it was not too little too late.

“Alright, people. Principals are evacuated, we got a tunnel and a million more places to secure. Move it!” Bailey barked after a couple of minutes.

One of his mean was directing them all toward the elevator. Her team filed in with the Council, but Bailey stopped her. “I'll take care of this. Guess he was as dirty as Udina.”

“No... he wasn't. The Major was doing what he thought was right. He just... stood up for the wrong man. Alenko was a friend once...” she said softly as she glanced over her shoulder one more time. Kaidan's last words to her still dug deep into her soul. Her next words were a whisper, not meant to be heard by anyone. “I'm already in hell every time I close my eyes, Kaidan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I expected this to end on a triumphant note, but the characters seem sad to lose one of their own, even if he was a jerk.


	52. Absolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I'm looking for a drell named Thane Krios.” she turned and asked the doctor coming toward her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Break out the tissues, guys.
> 
> Kudos to CrackingLamb for inspiring the Thane/Jack pairing [can't get it out of my head, thanks...lol]. Here's a different twist on the end of Thane's journey.

The hospital was packed with people of every species, in rooms, along the halls, on the floor. The wounded were everywhere. Shepard headed purposely into the patient wing. No one stopped her, at least not until she started peeking into rooms.

“Can I help you?” a doctor asked as he heading toward the lobby.

“I'm looking for a drell named Thane Krios.” she turned and asked the man.

The doctor glanced down at his data pad, scrolling through names. “Well, we have a drell, but not under that name.”

“He was injured. Stab wound. He's a regular patient here.” Shepard stepped toward the man, spilling what information she could.

“I see... It's alright, I understand. The surgeons were able to repair a lot of the trauma. However, Mister.. um, Krios is in the final stages of Kepral's Syndrome.” he walked to a door and stopped near it, turning to face her. “At its worst, Kepral's Syndrome interferes with his blood's ability to carry oxygen. And he lost a lot.”

Shepard nodded. She had known it was bad, but not quite how bad. Thane had never really disclosed much about his health or personal life beyond the fact that he had the disease and a troubled son. She had helped him bail that son out of serious trouble once. That was as far as it had really gone.

The doctor continued after a moment. “We've given him transfusions, but the supply of drell blood on the Citadel is very limited.”

“Is there any way to get more? I'll go if he needs it. Just give me his blood type.” Shepard offered hoping she did not sound too desperate for her friend.

“That's not going to work.” the doctor shook his head. “There was only one other drell on the entire station who was a match... and that drell is with him now.”

“Kolyat...” Shepard said, realization dawning on her who the other drell must be.

“Yes, that was his name. Claims to be our patient's son.” the doctor nodded and continued in a cryptic tone. “We did all we could for Mister Krios, but... well, I'm sorry. He's just too weak, his disease too far advanced. He doesn't have long. You might wanna say your goodbyes now.”

As the doctor hurried away, Shepard stepped into the room. The smell of antiseptic hit her first. She saw Kolyat standing beside the bed, his father propped up in a hospital gown. Thane looked pale, but almost peaceful in his sleep. He looked so much weaker than he ever had, however, almost frail. His scales had almost completely lost their shimmer.

Kolyat turned toward the door as she entered. “Commander Shepard. My father mentioned you were no longer incarcerated. I came to donate blood and.. well... He asked me to take off the oxygen mask so he could... be comfortable. I don't think it will be very long.”

“Your father helped me save a lot of lives. I'd like to be here... if it's ok with you.” Shepard said quietly.

“Of course.” Kolyat nodded.

Thane opened his eyes and looked at her the moment she stepped toward the bed. His voice was weak and sounded so much older than his forty-six years. “Commander, I'm afraid I won't be joining you again.”

“You've done more than enough, Thane.” Shepard nodded and rested her hand on the railing.

“That assassin should be embarrassed. A terminally ill drell managed to stop him from reaching his target.” Thane huffed out a weak laugh.

“I'll pass the word along.” Shepard smiled at him and he reached for her hand. She did not hesitate to fulfill the silent request. His hand was smooth and chilly, but strong as he squeezed hers gently. She remembered it being so much warmer when they first met, when she shook his hand that first time.

“Fuck you!” there was a commotion in the hallway outside the room. A muffled female voice sounded more than a little volatile as she demanded information. “Where is he?!”

“Jack...” Shepard whispered as she glanced at Thane before glancing over her shoulder at the door. There was a gentle smile spreading across the drell's face.

The door opened and Jack stopped in the doorway as she took in the occupants. She was winded and her face was flushed in anger and something else. Shepard noticed her eyes looked red rimmed as well, as if she had been crying. She took note of it, but refrained from comment.

Jack rushed to the other side of the bed when she saw Thane's hand gripping the commander's. The drell's head turned as his eyes followed her. His left hand reached for hers and she took it, bring it to her lips gently.

“Siha....” Thane breathed at the contact.

“I'm here.” was all she seemed able to say as she ran two knuckles of her free hand down his temple and along the fringe of his cheekbone.

“I did not think... you would come.” Thane coughed.

“I dared the Reapers to try an stop me.” she said forcefully before glancing up at the commander. “Thanks for telling me, Shepard.”

“There is something I must do before it gets worse. I must – ” Thane released both of their hands as he curled on his side in a coughing fit that racked his entire body. It took several moments for him to regain his breath. When he did, he shifted back to his previous position slowly and clasped his hands in prayer. His words dissolved into another coughing fit midway through. “Kalahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Kalahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand – ”

“ Kalahira, wash the sins from this one and set him on the distant shores of the infinite spirit.” Kolyat took up the prayer from a book he pulled from a pocket inside his jacket.

“Kolyat... you speak as the priests do. You have been spending time with them.” Thane whispered, holding his middle as the fit passed.

His son nodded and stepped toward Shepard, motioning for Jack to join them. “I brought a prayer book. Would the two of you care to join me?”

Jack's eyes had grown round and wide, her mouth open slightly and she shook her head. Her words were a whisper, something Shepard had never thought to hear from the woman. “I can't.”

Thane simply smiled at her and reached for her hand again. “Then they will pray for us both, Siha.”

“Commander?” Kolyat asked as he opened the book.

Shepard nodded. Somehow she suspected this might be Thane's last wish and she was not about to deny it. “Alright.”

“Kalahira, this one's heart is pure, but beset by wickedness and contention.” Kolyat began and held the book so that Shepard could see the printed words as well.

“Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, the hungry never starve.” Jack took up the next verse in a tearful voice from her position at Thane's side. The drell's lips were moving silently along with her words as he brushed the joined knuckles of his right hand along her temple.

“Guide this one, Kalahira, and she will be a companion to you as she was to me.” Shepard took the last verse as the other woman choked off her words in a strangled gasp.

Kolyat stepped toward the bed then with an additional verse clearly meant for himself. “Guide him to where the hunters return, where the storms become still, where all stars show the path. Guide him, Kalahira, and he will be a companion to you as he was a father to me.”

Shepard noticed Thane's right hand had dropped to his chest while his left had relaxed its grip on Jack's. The tattooed woman let out a ragged sigh and squatted down beside the bed, her hands turning white-knuckled on the railing. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open and she looked more lost than the commander had ever seen her. It took Jack several long minutes to suck in a breath. When she did, she gritted her teeth in a grimace and squeezed her eyes shut. Tears ran down her face freely then. It was clear the drell was gone by her reaction.

“Kolyat? Why did my verse say 'she'?” Shepard asked softly.

“The prayer was not for him, Commander. He has already asked forgiveness for the lives he has taken. His wish was for you... and Jack. We did not know if Jack would make it in time. I'm glad she did. His last wish was to see her one more time.” Kolyat answered just as softly.

“See you in the afterlife, Scales.” Jack whispered tenderly when she finally regained her feet. She gently closed his eyes and bent down to kiss his lips as if she meant to carry that last memory of him for eternity.

With a shuddering breath and a rough swipe at an eye, Jack virtually ran out of the room with barely a glance at Shepard or Kolyat. It was obvious she needed to be alone and the commander made no move to follow her. She had not realized the two were quite that close. _Close as Garrus and me from her reaction. I don't think I'd survive losing him like this. Not something I ever want to consider_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized in a couple of comments that I've been flipping some letters around in Kepral's Syndrome... my bad. Yay to the Dyslexic brain... lol


	53. Existential Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack doesn't deal well with loss. Shepard finds her at Purgatory trying to drown her heartache.

Jack sat staring into the bottom of her glass. She had lost count of how many she had actually had so far. Too many to be sure and it still was not enough. Purgatory had sounded like a good idea, a place to drown herself in booze until she was numb to the pain. It was a cliché she knew, but right then she did not care.

Thane, she had not meant to fall so hard for him. She had been attracted to him, sure. He had a rock hard body, unmatched skills... and he was dangerous. She liked dangerous. This thing between them was just supposed to be a little stress relief. They had needed each other. It did not matter that she was his first cross-species thing. It seemed to work for him. It had worked for them both. 

Somewhere along the way, however, somebody started listening to their heart instead of their head. She could not say which one of them it had been. Who was the first to bend? Who was the first to linger a little longer with the other afterward? She thought it might have been her. Some part of her enjoyed his touch a little too much. She longed for him when they were apart for awhile.

“This sucks!” Jack snarled as she tossed the data pad across the table. She had stared at it so long her eyes were blurring.

Shepard took a seat across from her and picked up the data pad. She had not seen the commander enter the bar or come up the stairs. _Slipping, Jack, get your head out of your ass. If she'd been an enemy, you'd be a smear right now!_

“What's this?” the commander asked curiously.

“Duty roster for the students. It's what I do for fun now.” Jack slouched in her chair and narrowed her eyes at the commander spewing out sarcasm in great big buckets. “They've got us spread out across the Alliance units. Reinforcing barriers, modding ammo, that kind of thing.”

“How are _you_ holding up?” Shepard asked pointedly as she put her elbows on the table and leaned on them.

That was the last question Jack had expected out of her and it was the one she knew the woman just had to ask. It was the one she wanted to answer the least. It meant facing that big black hole in her heart that had lovingly embraced Thane and all her memories of him only an hour ago. Now some small part of her wished she could erase them all along with the pain their caused her. Another part howled that those memories were all she had left of him, all she would ever have of him now. That conflict was part of the reason she was so drunk she could barely stand up.

“I'm still breathin', Shepard. That's all I got right now.” Jack sat there and stared at the woman wishing she was drunker now.

“And drinking.” Shepard stated calmly as she indicated the glasses scattered across the table.

“Yeah...” Jack grumbled.

“Thane wouldn't want you to wallow in self-pity like this, Jack.” Shepard began.

“Thane's dead!” Jack snarled viciously, leaning across the table. Then her voice dropped to a softer tone and level as she leaned back into her slouch. “He doesn't want anything anymore.”

“I'm sure he's in a better place, Jack.” Shepard tried again.

“He was born, he lived and now he's dead... game over, Shepard. You know it better than the rest of us, don't you? We just wink out when we die...” she stopped and took a big gulp of beer.

“That's a harsh view of the world...” the commander said quietly, or as quiet as one could get over the rumble of music.

“Tell me I'm wrong. Give me some proof.” Jack slammed the glass down on the table.

Shepard sat there glaring back at her in thought for several long minutes. Finally, with a sigh, she shook her head. “I can't, but I'd like to believe there's something after all... this. There has to be... or Cerberus couldn't have brought me back.”

Jack, drunk as she was, still saw the crisis of faith in the other woman's eyes at that question. She kicked herself for making Shepard think about it, but she could not stop herself. “We're a collection of electrical impulses. Cerberus just jump started your engine, that's all. You got lucky.”

Shepard sat there staring at that duty roster for a few minutes in thought. A deep frown settled over her face. “You really believe that?”

“I don't know... Easier than thinkin' Thane is watchin' me from some heavenly perch...” she paused and set the glass down without taking another drink. With a sigh, she finished the comment waving a hand at the scattered glasses. “'cause if he is, you're right..... he wouldn't want to see this.”

“Come on.” Shepard said as she got to her feet.

“What?” Jack barked.

“The duty rosters can wait. Right now, you're on shore leave... and Thane may be watching.” Shepard paused and indicated the dance floor above with a nod of her head. “Let's give him the show he deserves.”

“Shepard, everybody knows you can't dance.” Jack said as she followed the commander up the stairs.

“You sure about that?” Shepard smiled and stepped into a swaying rhythm that matched the beat of the music perfectly. It was the same kind of grace the woman had on the battlefield.

Jack closed her mouth just realizing that it was hanging open at the display. True, the place was dark enough that no one would recognize the commander even if they bumped into her. Maybe that was why she was confident in her movements now. It could be the existential crisis Jack herself had ignited as well.

After a moment, she thought of Thane and stepped onto the dance floor herself. If he really was watching her from somewhere, she did not want him to see her getting shit-faced over his death. He would want her to celebrate his life. That meant embracing every memory she had of him. She decided she did not want to erase them. No, she wanted to cherish them, hold onto them and breathe as much life into them as she could. If the Reapers won this thing, she meant to join him on that 'distant shore' the prayer had talked about.

Right now, none of it mattered. Right now, she was becoming one with the music, losing herself in its beat. It felt right, as if Thane was dancing with her. They had done that a few times and she let those memories was over her now. It helped sooth that bleeding pit in her soul.

When she had finally exhausted herself and burned a good bit of the alcohol out of her brain, she returned to her seat below the dance floor. Shepard followed her. She expected the commander might. There were more questions the woman was bound to ask, but she doubted they were be about her state of mind.

“Before you ask, the kids are fine. They're not the ones reading duty rosters while on shore leave.” Jack sighed.

Shepard smiled and nodded. “Complain all you like, but I think military life suits you.”

“Hey,” Jack tossed her head slightly in indignation at that. “Running back to the Alliance was _your_ lifelong dream, not _mine_.”

“Oh come on, Jack... Plenty of combat, free room and board... and people you can depend on.” Shepard purred at her. It reminded her of her days on the Normandy.

“Yeah, yeah... Maybe your little suicide squad taught me a little something about teamwork. Speaking of which... thanks.” Jack narrowed her eyes at the commander. _Master manipulator, that's what she is and she knows it. It does feel better talking about real productivity though. She probably knows that too... bitch.._. “My guys are handling the support stuff well. Still see some action, but they're not on the front lines. They've saved a lot of lives. It'd be a hell of a lot more fun with you – you find bigger fights. But the little shits are useless without me. I gotta stick with 'em.”

Jack shook her head and sat up a little straighter. Thane might be gone, but there were others that still needed her. The war still needed her skills. Those kids depended on her for instruction on the battlefield. Without her, they would all likely end up dead. “I'm dependable now, apparently. I blame you for this, Shepard.”

“I think Thane had a hand in some of that.” Shepard nodded with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, maybe so, but you started it.” Jack sighed and gave Shepard a faint smile as she narrowed her eyes at the woman. “I guess those kids still need their dangerous bitch instructor. I'll keep breathin'... at least until the last Reaper falls. Can't promise how it will go after.”

Shepard seemed satisfied by that answer as she stood once more. The commander nodded. “I'll take what I can get. That's all any of us can do.”

“It's what Thane would want.” Jack breathed with a nod of her own.

“I should go.” Shepard stated.

“Duty calls, I know.” Jack nodded and picked up that data pad once more with renewed purpose as the commander stepped away from the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get a chapter out through distractions is a pain in the rump...


	54. The Bearer of Bad News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard is tired of being the bearer of bad news.

Someone must have been alert the moment the drell passed because the room was swarming with medical staff seconds after Jack ran out. Rather than be pushed against a wall or into some piece of equipment, Shepard opted to leave. There was nothing more to be done for the man. Kepral's Syndrome was a no resuscitation kind of disease. She knew his passing had been accelerated by the stab wound and the loss of blood. Even though it might have been an easier end than the disease would have granted him alone, she meant to make it right. That Cerberus assassin was going to pay.

Shepard was deep in emotional turmoil when she made her way to Bailey's office. She did not expect the man to actually be at his desk, not after being wounded in the coup attempt. He looked up as she entered the office and shook his head before glancing back at the screen before him. There was a sour pained expression on his face. From the deeper lines around his mouth and across his forehead, she realized it was a look he wore often.

“Uh... so many pieces to put back together since the Cerberus attack. We're reeling from the implications. Udina... _in league with Cerberus_... trying to murder the Council.” he shook his head with a sigh and glanced back up at her as she crossed the room to the desk. “These are dark days for all of us.”

Shepard clasped her hands behind her back and unconsciously shifted int a parade rest stance. Her comment was tinged with concern. “Thought you'd be in the hospital.”

“If I'm breathin', I'm workin'.” Bailey shifted in his seat, hand pressed to his side as he grumbled the words. The look of determination she normally saw on his face slowly returned as he continued. “Probably the worst I've ever been hurt. Fitting, I guess, given the state of the galaxy. But if Cerberus thinks a few slugs it gonna keep me out of action, they got another thing comin'.”

“This attack has really brought the Citadel's vulnerabilities to light. _Can_ this station be defended?” Shepard asked. She reasoned that if anyone would know, it would be the man sitting behind that desk.

“No. Maybe, if we had more manpower, people we can trust. We're weeding through our own, trying to figure out if Udina acted alone, but it's time-consuming.” tapping a couple of keys and staring at his monitor for a moment, he let out a frustrated sigh. “We're taking the right steps, baby-steps at best.”

“All that time you were workin' for Udina, did you ever suspect?” Shepard asked, crossing her arms and glancing off to the side.

“Always rubbed me a little wrong.” Bailey clasped his hands on the desk in front of him and glanced down. “Still, that traitorous bastard upped me. Probably made me for an idiot. I guess I proved him right.”

“He's dead and you're still here, Bailey.” Shepard nodded and locked eyes with him.

That drew a soft laugh out of the man. “Thanks to you. If you hadn't shown up, Udina and Cerberus would be dancing on my grave.”

“I overheard a pair of Cerberus troopers while my team and I were 'mopping' the place up. They took out their own mole. Garrus confirmed his identity. He said the man's name was Lamont.” Shepard felt that nugget of information needed to be dropped.

“Damn....” Bailey said in a low voice. “Always thought he was a little too shifty. Guess I was right. There could be others though. Lamont didn't have all the security codes that were breached.”

“You hear anything about your family out there?” Shepard asked quietly. She knew that was a touchy subject for nearly all of them. Her own thoughts went to Nana then. That asari was the closest thing she had to a mother. She had heard nothing from her since the woman had claimed to be heading to Thessia.

“Not a peep.” Bailey said, dropping his head. His voice became a throaty huff as he stood and mentioned his ex. He began to pace as he talked about his kids. “Always believed I'd get a chance to tell my _ex-wife_ a few things. And my kids back on Earth... Was supposed to visit them. First vacation in years, but I had to cancel when I got promoted.”

“Don't give up hope, Bailey. This war isn't lost yet.” Shepard said as she watched the man cross to the back of the room and lean on a filing cabinet.

“Thanks, Shepard. I'm really tryin' not to think too much about it. The war finally found the Citadel, guess I don't have that luxury anymore. We've been trained to expect the unexpected, but this is so far beyond our imagination... Folks are shutting down and shutting in since the coup attempt. I hear a lot of prayin', and cryin'. They're saying this is a war to end all wars. Maybe it is. We haven't seen anything to counter dict that idea yet.” he paused and took his seat behind the desk again with a pained grunt. “If this isn't the end of days... it's pretty damn close.”

Shepard nodded. She could not argue that assessment. There were still things she and the alliance she was building might be able to do, but it would take time. Time was something they did not have a lot of these days. She did not know what more comfort she could offer him. “I should go. Duty calls.”

“Yeah, yeah... good luck out there, Shepard.” Bailey nodded.

“Keep your chin up, Bailey. It's not over yet.” Shepard said as she glanced back over her shoulder before heading out the door.

EDI had been the one to inform of her Jack's situation. After that visit and coercing the woman onto the dance floor to relieve some of her tension, she moved on to another task. In a way, she felt like she was just going through the motions. She took a moment to check in with the AI sitting with Joker and finally left Purgatory. The place was loud and her head was starting to throb. There was someone she needed to see up on the Presidium anyway.

It did not take her long to reach the storefronts along the Presidium. What took the most time was locating the asari. Ereba, Char's bondmate. She needed to hear his final message to her. Shepard could not, in good conscious, leave the woman to believe her bondmate might return when he lay dead on Utukku. She would have done this for anyone, but this one was personal. It felt like her responsibility because she had convinced the asari to take him back.

Finding her was easier than she thought it would be. There were raised voices at one of the kiosks. One asari customer making crude comments regarding the asari clerk's krogan bondmate. There was no doubt in Shepard's mind, that was the asari she was searching for.

Stepping up to the counter, Shepard glared at the asari customer before returning her attention to Ereba. “Excuse me. I'm sorry. You need to hear this. Is there somewhere a little less... crowded we can go?”

“Y-yes...” Ereba stammered, clearly trying to place where she had seen the commander. She turned toward the human female at the opposite end of the counter. “Sarah, cover for me?”

At the woman's nod, she drew Shepard behind the counter and stepped toward the far corner in the rear. “We don't normally allow customers back here, but...”

“I won't be here long.” Shepard nodded and opened her omni-tool with a heavy heart. She keyed in the message she had retrieved on Utukku. Without another word, she allowed it to play.

“O Blue Rose of Illium, if these humble words reach you, then I have joined my ancestors.” the deep resonant voice of the krogan poured out of the omni-tool's speaker.

“No... No-no-no...” Ereba gasped, her breath catching in a quiet sob.

“My dream was to be by your side, a weed beside your beauty, twining together in the warm Tuchanka sun.” the message continued.

“Oh, Char...” she gasped his name.

“But if my last days must be with krannt instead of kindness, still, I will remember the perfume of your scent and the soft touch of your petals. Let my broken bones build a wall around your garden, so you and the flower we planted together can grow safe and strong.” the message concluded and Shepard closed her omni-tool.

“Thank you. I should – I need to go.” Ereba was barely holding in the grief as she squeezed her eyes shut, nodded to Shepard and pushed her way out of the kiosk.

Shepard watched her go and wished a thousand times that the news had been better. There was no doubt in her mind that the asari was pregnant. She remembered Char wanted kids. The references in the message were clear to anyone who cared to listen. There was also the very slight bump across the asari's lower belly, barely noticeably at the moment, but clearly there. It would be hard for the woman. She had bonded with the krogan expecting a long life with him.

Sick of being the bearer of bad news for one day, Shepard decided what she really needed was her quarters on the Normandy. There was just so much misery she could stomach and it was already past her limit. First Thane's death, that had been a hard blow all on its own. Then dealing with Bailey and his family back on Earth, a family that might not even be there now. Then Jack barely holding it together in Purgatory and now Ereba and Char's final message to her. She was done. It was just too much. She wanted to curl up with Garrus, pull the blankets over her head and burrow in, forgetting the galaxy for awhile. That was exactly what she planned to do as she headed for the elevator.


	55. The Memorial Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus felt obligated to put that name up on the wall. After all, he had taken that life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter here.

Garrus stood before the memorial wall looking up at the name plaque he had personally placed on it. He was not sure how he felt about it all. On the SR-1 Kaidan had been a friend. True, he liked to make rude comments regarding the turians being an imperial people. And there was the fact that he had gotten away with murdering Commander Vyrnnus, but even still, the man had his back more than once. It had bothered him to see Shepard and Kaidan together, so tightly wound around each other, as time had gone by. He had pushed those odd feelings aside at the time, never realizing then exactly what they meant. Never, in a million years, would he have thought he might have been in love with her back then. Considering an inter-species relationship then was the furthest thing from his mind. He had not realized what exactly it was he felt for her until the SR-1 was destroyed. The memory came unbidden of how hard seeing her die in space had hit him. He remembered seeing Kaidan a few days later and the man seemed completely unphased by her death.

Now the turian stood there before that wall, arms crossed and simply stared at the human's name. He did not really know how he was supposed to feel right then. Remorse that he had been the one to pull the trigger? Anger that the man had left him no choice? Relief that Kaidan could no longer threaten the commander and the love of his life? He supposed he felt something of all of those and more. It had been hard to pull that trigger on a one-time friend, but the man had left him no choice. He would live with the guilty mixture of emotions for the rest of his life.

Kaidan, like Udina, had lost his mind. That was what he thought of the situation. It was what he kept telling himself. That was the only thing that really made sense. The Major had not been quite right since Horizon. Not since he had seen Shepard alive and relatively well again. He suspected that was the tipping point for the man. There simply was no other explanation.

Just hours ago, he had kept his weapon trained on Shepard, only switching between her and the rest of the team when he felt threatened. Garrus was sure of what he had seen in the human's eyes, however. Kaidan meant to kill him, him specifically because he was in the way of what he really wanted. The human might have killed Shepard as well the moment it became clear he could not win her back. That was what had prompted him to take the man out. Eliminate all dangerous targets before they eliminate you, that was basic turian training. He would gladly give his life for Shepard if it was required, but standing by and allowing the man to just kill him in cold blood, that was unacceptable. He only hoped his bondmate understood his reasoning.

When Shepard stepped off the elevator and stopped abreast of him, he glanced at her. She looked exhausted and worn down. He could not gauge where her mind was right then, however. Her mood seemed somber. He understood entirely. The day had been filled to the brim with chaos and misery. First the slaughter of a multitude of Cerberus troops, followed by Thane's injury, heaped full of Alenko's misguided allegiance and topped with Thane's death. Their names on that wall were just the narro on top.

“Shepard. Hell of a day. Udina loses his mind, the Citadel almost falls...” he began, testing that mood.

Shepard looked up at the wall, clearly noting the new plaques. She glanced back at him with a slight nod and took a deep breath. Her eyes went back to the wall a heartbeat later.

“Thought it only right I be the one to put his name up. Not the first life I've taken, but certainly the hardest. I didn't want it to go down like that.” Garrus locked his eyes on Alenko's name plaque with a shake of his head. There were too many unresolved feelings there. He did not hate the man exactly. True, he had wanted a piece of him for a long time now, since he had begun to threaten Shepard, but not like this. A good sparring match, beating the hell out of the man, that would have been justice enough for him.

“I'm sorry, Garrus. This shouldn't be on you. I hesitated. I shouldn't have.” Shepard said quietly, her voice filled with remorse.

“I understand. It's hard to see a friend standing in the crosshairs.” he knew that one all too well. Sidonis had once been a friend and he had been ready to put him down.

“Well, I'm sorry you had to.” Shepard sighed. A moment later Garrus felt her hand slip into his and he squeezed it gently. “What's done is done, lover. Don't beat yourself up over this. You know I appreciate you lookin' out for me.”

“It had to be done. I just wish...” Garrus began, but could not finish it. He wished there had been a way to bring Kaidan back over to their side, their way of thinking. A way that did not involve him giving up the love of his life or Shepard tossing them both out the airlock.

“I know. He was a good man once.” Shepard nodded and returned her gaze to the memorial wall. After a moment, she asked. “Who put Thane's name up there?”

“Jack... She was here and gone like a wraith.” Garrus stated.

“I didn't know turians believed in wraiths.” Shepard commented.

“I'll have to dig up some literature for you. Mind you, most of it is archaic and written in turian script, but we can translate it.” Garrus gave her a faint smile despite the current circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering all in our little community are currently feeling the affects of the Corona/Covid-19 virus, I feel a need to lighten the tone here with a 'smuff' [smut-fluff] chapter. Bear with me here, it may take a bit of time to write it and work it in seamlessly, but it will be coming along soon. Giggle at the phrasing if you must, that's what we're here for. 😋


	56. Batarian Fleet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus is ready to put a bullet clean through the head of the batarian daring to threaten Shepard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not the 'smuff' chapter I promised. It was already half written, but it works well as a build up to it.

There were a couple of things she still needed to do on the Citadel. That was what she had told him. He tagged along. The turian still needed to check in with Lilfrey and Aptus at the refugee camp. He did not know where they had been through the coup or what damage they might have caused Cerberus. A lot, he hoped. Lilfrey alone was a whirlwind of destruction when launched in the right direction. She reminded him of Shepard in some ways. The trouble was, she was just too damned mean to inspire much loyalty.

The moment Garrus and Shepard reached the refugee level, they split off in separate directions. She mumbled something about collecting a final unauthorized code from a nearby terminal. He headed for the section partitioned off for his people. Along the way, he spotted Zaeed and frowned. Crazy as that man was, he was nowhere near as bat-shit as Alenko had been. At least not the same kind of crazy. It surprised him that the man had made it off Zorya alive.

“Hey! Vakarian!” the man shouted when he clearly spotted him.

Garrus sighed and detoured. He realized if he did not deal with this now, it was just going to keep coming back. That was how bad luck worked. If things went well, he might not have to kill the man.

“What do you want, Massani?” Garrus asked, sounding irritated even to himself. It had been a long day and now, it seemed as if it was about to get even longer.

“Look, I ain't good at this shit.” Zaeed held up his hands in surrender. “Just tell Shepard... oh hell, tell 'er I was wrong back on Zorya. I made a mistake. Veedo got away. Would've 'appened no matter what I did.”

“That an apology?” Shepard asked coming up beside Garrus to glare at the man before them.

“It's the best I got.” Zaeed nodded.

“A lot of people could have died in that refinery.” she grumbled at him.

“Don't you think I know that? What's done is done.” Zaeed snapped.

“I'll accept that... _only_ because you helped save a few of those people.” Shepard paused, seeming to think long and hard on her next choice of words. “The Alliance could use a man like you on the front lines.”

“If it'll get Veedo's bitches off my back... done.” Zaeed agreed.

“Good. I'll send you a link to Hackett's comm. Call him and tell him I sent you. He'll tell you where he needs you.” Shepard turned to go and looked back over her shoulder at him. “And Zaeed...”

“Yeah?” he asked suspiciously.

“Betray me again... and there won't be enough left of you to put in a shoe box.” Shepard said in a low nasty tone.

Garrus watched her head off toward the batarian section of the refugee level with narrowed eyes. He knew Zaeed had pissed her off good and proper, but he never expected her to threaten the man quite like that. It had been a rough day for all of them. This war was telling on her more and more each day. It was becoming too much for her to bear alone and they both knew it. The time was rapidly coming when she would be forced to lean on him for the support he had offered.

Continuing on toward the turian refuge, he stopped when he heard her address the batarian by name. He did not mean to ease drop, but he was too close not to overhear the conversation. Maybe it was important that he did, he realized.

“Are you Ghorek?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled by the shipping containers between them.

“Go away. Nothing to say...” the batarian growled weakly.

“Not even what a terrorist's doing on the Citadel?” she asked in irritation.

“You!” he barked at her. It sounded as if he were struggling to speak.

“Do I know you?” Shepard asked suspiciously.

The batarian coughed violently before continuing. “Every batarian with someone on Aratoht remembers _your_ face!”

“Oh crap...” Garrus sighed softly as he leaned against the container that shielded him from view. This was not what his bondmate needed right now.

“The planet that got caught in the Alpha Relay explosion...” Shepard said quietly.

“You butchered a colony!” Ghorek coughed again sounding as if every breath was becoming a struggle. “Only regret... don't have the strength to...”

“I destroyed that relay to _stop the Reapers_ from pouring through.” Shepard was trying to add some force to her voice and was failing.

“Easy for you to claim now that they're here. Don't pretend you have any remorse.” the batarian snarled.

“You think I'm not carrying around a mountain of guilt over that? _I. Destroyed. A. Colony._ ” Shepard's voice had grown ragged, low and riddled with the guilt she carried. She continued after a sigh of frustration. “I tried to warn those people. There's not a single day that I don't think about the _innocent_ blood that stains _my_ hands. In the end, I _didn't_ have a choice... I'm _sorry_ , if that means anything.”

“If you're so remorseful... If you have any _real_ guilt, show some mercy.” Ghorek coughed again, wheezing out his last request. “Unplug this machine. Let me join my family.”

A moment of silence followed and then Garrus heard the distinctive beeping of the machine in question. He sighed, closing his eyes and thumped the side of his head against the container. “Spirits.....”

“Thank...” the batarian's words choked off into what was clearly a death rattle. She had fulfilled his request.

Shepard did not notice him when she walked passed and headed toward the elevator. The look on her face said it all; grim determination. He knew that look, had seen it more times than he cared to count. She was on a mission and meant to see it through. All he could do at this point was continue with his own agenda. He needed to check in with Lilfrey and Aptus, make sure those supplies were getting to his people.

Garrus spent a couple hours sorting out supply lines for the refugees. Lines that he had asked Aptus to handle. The male was proving completely incompetent at handling even the simplest of tasks. The front line, that was where Aptus belonged and that was where he meant to send him. Lilfrey could have handled things here if Victus had not recalled her to command another Cabal unit.

The turian had not expected to hear Shepard's voice just beyond the refugee camp again so soon. She sounded frustrated. “Noles, I've found the terminal where the last access code was used.”

Noles, he knew that name, but could not place it on the spot. He glanced back down at the data pad he had been going over, thinking to finish up and head back to the Normandy. A flash of movement caught his attention and he looked back up. A batarian was heading in the direction Shepard's voice had come from. That could not be good, he realized and slipped to the edge of the shipping container nearest their position. His mandibles drew in tightly against his face when he saw the male poke Shepard between the shoulder blades with his pistol.

“Shepard.” the male growled.

“Balak.” she growled back at him as she glanced over her shoulder.

“You should have killed me on that asteroid over Terra Nova.” Balak rumbled at her, his gun unwavering. “I've been waiting for this. Everything that has happened to my people is _your_ fault.”

“All I did was _stop_ you at Terra Nova.” Shepard reminded him.

“My government accelerated research efforts on the leviathan of Dis after you ruined my plans.” he growled indignantly at her. “Have you heard of it, Commander? The ancient organic dreadnought my people recovered from Jartar twenty years ago? _Sound familiar?_ ”

“A Reaper. Your people were studying a Reaper corpse.” Shepard's voice was a strained whisper.

This was the first Garrus had heard of the leviathan. It did not sound good and if he knew his bondmate, they were bound to investigate anything connected with the Reapers. Find a vulnerability if they could. It made a certain kind of sense, but he did not like the idea.

“Yes, looking for a way to reclaim our place as the true power in the galaxy. Hundreds of our best scientists were enlisted...” Balak just did not seem to know when to shut up.

“And then they became indoctrinated.” Shepard said coldly. She sounded as if she were trying to buy time.

“When the Reapers reach Khar'shan, our own people betrayed us. Defense grids were deactivated, ships fired on allied targets. We were destroyed from within... because of _you_.” he snarled as if it was entirely her fault.

“I didn't destroy your people, Balak. The _Reapers_ did that.” she was trying to make the batarian see reason, the truth of it.

Garrus drew his pistol and edged closer. This was about to get ugly, but there was no way in hell he was going to let that batarian harm his bondmate. He meant to add a new hole to the male's head before he let that happen.

“We were a proud race, a _beautiful_ race! Have you seen what the Reapers have done to us?” Balak snarled a demand for an answer from her. “I am trapped on the _Citadel_. Our warships only know the locations of the Reaper forces because _I've_ tapped Council transmissions. I am the highest ranking military officer left in the Hegemony. _I can't save my people!_ But I can _end you!_ ”

“What does killing me accomplish?” Shepard snapped at the male.

“ _Vengeance._ The Bahak system...”

_Spirits... this has to end now_. Garrus knew it was coming to a head quickly now. He had needed to hear the reasons this batarian was so hell-bent on taking Shepard out. Now he knew. It all came back to Aratoht. He realized she was never going to escape those repercussions.

“I've already killed one man for her today. Care to make it two?” Garrus growled from behind Balak, the muzzle of his pistol thumped the back of the batarian's head.

“Aaah...” Balak snarled, but remained where he was.

Shepard turned to face them as Balak lowered his weapon. “Look, I know... trust is hard to come by, but you have to start somewhere. We've already united the krogan and turians. They stand with humanity against the Reapers. We're the best hope this galaxy has. The only way we win this war is by standing together...”

“Fine! Our ships are yours.” Balak growled as he holstered his weapon and walked past Garrus with an angry look.

“You alright?” Garrus asked as he let the batarian go and stepped toward his bondmate. He saw Officer Noles heading their way a moment later.

Shepard nodded and glanced toward Noles as she came up to them. “Shepard. Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Shepard sighed, sounding more tired than Garrus had first thought. “You won't have anymore trouble with those codes.”

“Is that... do you want me to arrest him?” Nole's eyes grew wide as she glanced over her shoulder at the retreating batarian.

“I _want_ you to put a bullet in his head... but we're all making some sacrifices today.” Shepard took hold of Garrus' elbow as she spoke again. It was a clear signal to stay put. Her next comment came after some careful thought as her eyes narrowed. “Let him go. Spectre authority.”

“Understood, Commander. And thanks.” Noles nodded to her before leaving.

“At least I didn't have to kill him.” Garrus said quietly as he watched Balak disappear into the section reserved for what remained of the batarian refugees.

“He's desperate and rightly so. His people need us, but he's too proud to admit it freely.” Shepard voiced her thoughts on the matter.

“Too proud too admit it without a gun pointed to his head.” Garrus nodded.

“Or too stupid. Either way, we can use his fleet.” it was the closest thing to agreement he was going to get on that subject.

“I've done what I can here. Time to come up for air.” Garrus stated and started to step away from her. The light grip on his arm tightened and he looked down at her in concern. “Shepard?”

“You're right... it's time to come up for air.” Shepard agreed. “All these people need _me_ , but _I_ need _you_. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

An easy smile spread his mandibles and he ducked his head down to bump her brow with his own. “I can think of a few things you can do _with_ me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tasty 'smuff' incoming in the next chapter. It'll be a nice way to end part three. We'll move into part four to resolve the final push.
> 
> There's a boatload more game material to work with as well as a planned post-war original story. We'll see who survives and how...


	57. Encrypted Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reporting to both Hackett and Anderson, Shepard receives an encrypted message along with a request for help from the Asari High Command.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this was supposed to be a smuff chapter. The characters had other ideas. Next chapter for sure. It'll work in smoothly there. Can't have it feeling disjointed or it'll mess with the story flow...

“I have to contact Hackett, report the addition of the batarian fleet.” Shepard said, running her hand down the scarred side of his face to the rippled scars of his throat. “Meet you in the mess later?”

“I'll be there in awhile. Need to adjust the calibrations on that giant gun first.” Garrus agreed.

“I'm holding you to that, Vakarian.” Shepard smiled and ran her hand over those scars to the plates across the back of his neck. She drew him down for a quick kiss before releasing him. Her hips picked up just a little more sway as she walked away. Her bondmate was watching, she could feel his eyes feasting on her.

Shepard heard the sub-harmonic growl before his feet thumped toward the elevator. She smiled to herself faintly as she headed toward the War Room and the QEC beyond. The sooner she made this report, the sooner she could seal herself in her quarters with her bondmate. They had so little time to lose themselves in each other between missions and official stops at the Citadel. She meant to 'come up for air' as he often reminded her tonight. Surely they could afford one sleep cycle away from the stress of duty.

As she entered the QEC, she noticed Hackett and Anderson were both patching through the system. It seemed the Normandy was serving as a mobile satellite. If that was what they needed, she could find no fault in it. She nodded to them both as she stopped before the railing.

“Shepard, I've got Anderson patched in. I was bringing him up to speed.” Hackett said with a nod.

“Udina...” Anderson said sharply, hands clasped behind his back. “That SOB was always power hungry, but _this_...”

“Cerberus was using him to take control of the Citadel. He was a puppet.” Shepard explained the obvious evidence that neither of them had seen up close and personal.

“What the hell for?” Anderson asked with a wave of his hand.

“I dunno. Not yet anyway.” Shepard shook her head. She was still trying to figure that one out herself.

“It could've been a lot worse.” Hackett stated with a sigh as he picked at a fingers and looked to Anderson. “Shepard stopped the assassination attempt on Councilor Valern.”

“Kai Leng...” Anderson breathed and locked eyes with Shepard.

“What?” Shepard asked, her interest piqued. Finally there might be a name to go with the man who had all but murdered Thane.

“Your assassin. I recognized him from the surveillance feed. I'll have Hackett send you my reports on him. Short story; be careful.” Anderson nodded.

“I take it you two have met.” she stated, taking a step forward.

“Kahlee Sanders and I had our share of run-ins with him. I shot him in both legs once. Thought that might be the end of him, but he showed up again on Omega even stronger.” Anderson gave her the short rundown.

“Illusive Man patch him up?” she asked knowingly. To her way of thinking, that might be the only real explanation.

“That's a fair enough guess. Patching up a couple of ruined knees is child's play compared to what they did with you. It's a safe bet Leng's even more dangerous now.” Anderson speculated.

“If those reports can offer even the slightest advantage against these bastards, I'll take it.” the knowledge that Cerberus remained one step ahead seriously ticked her off.

“Their attempts may have had at least one unintended side effect. I received word from the asari councilor. They're requesting an update on the Crucible.” Hackett stated, having ceased the hand wringing now.

“Leng has them scared. Enough to send help?” Anderson speculated, raising a hand to his mouth and tapping his lower lip.

“Yes, the asari and salarians are both throwing in their support now.” Hackett confirmed a little snappishly.

“Balak agreed to lend the remainder of the batarian Hegemony fleet in support.” Shepard tossed that little nugget of information on the table.

“My god... I thought the batarians were wiped out in the first wave.” Hackett breathed.

“Not quite.” the commander tilted her head a fraction. She still could not believe there were more than a handful of them left. Surly not enough to constitute a fleet. Balak was many things, but not a liar. If he said there was a fleet, then that was what they had.

“The batarians siding with us is promising news. Saving the galaxy and ensuring their species survival may well denote your involvement in the destruction of the Bahak system to little more than a footnote, Commander.” Hackett stated.

Shepard gripped the railing before her tightly enough that her knuckles turned white. She was tired of being reminded of just how much innocent blood stained her hands. Some days, the guilt was overwhelming. Those were the days she threw herself recklessly at the enemy, any enemy. She would not, could not be responsible for so much loss of life again. They had to win this thing. Commander Shepard was not going down in history as the human commander who set out to defeat the Reapers... and failed.

“How's the progress on the Crucible?” she asked, her head still down.

“Good so far. Our estimates suggest we've completed nearly fifty percent of the known work.” Hackett answered.

“So quickly?” Shepard asked quietly, looking back up at the flicker blue hologram.

“The schematics aren't prothean specific. Decoding them has gone easier than we thought.” Hackett elaborated.

“Hmm...” she grunted and turned away from them, pacing a shot distance in thought. She had not realized the Crucible was so close to completion. Those icy fingers of something akin to dread crawled up her spine at the thought of it. The same as they did when she looked at either the memorial wall or the holo-display of the Crucible. She still could not grasp the why of that obvious anxiety. Maybe it was because they knew next to nothing bout how to use the weapon.

“Are we any closer to understanding how to us it?” leave it to Anderson to voice the question burning through her mind.

“That's still open for debate.” Hackett sighed and clasped his hands behind his back again. “Our scientists think it can generate enough energy to destroy the Reapers, _if_ we use it correctly.”

There were those icy fingers again. Shepard shook off a shiver by turning back toward them and taking a step forward. “How is it gonna deliver that energy and in what form?”

“That we still don't know.” Hackett confirmed what she was already beginning to suspect.

“You mean, how do we stop this thing from wiping _us_ out along _with_ the Reapers?” Anderson glared at Hackett.

“Exactly. We think the Catalyst is the key. It'll allow us to direct the flow of energy at the Reapers alone.” Hackett said, his eyes locking on her slowly.

Shepard did not especially care for the way he was looking at her right then, as if he knew something he was not willing to spill. There was still so much she did not know about the device they were building. She had looked those schematics over a multitude of times. Each time she saw only a missing piece, the Catalyst. There simply were no answers yet.

Nodding, Shepard pushed herself off that railing. “I'll see what I can dig up. Maybe Liara has found something.”

“I'll send you an update on the schematics, and in the meantime, we'll keep building.” Hackett stated.

“And we'll keep fighting – make sure there's an Earth to come back to.” Anderson added.

“You've always trusted me. I won't let you down.” Shepard nodded at Anderson. He had trusted her when no one else did, when she had not even trusted herself. He had been like the father she never had, stepping into that role the moment Nana had drawn his attention to her biotic abilities.

“We're still in this. The gods of war haven't given up on us yet.” Hackett reaffirmed his own determination as much as hers.

“Good luck. Both of you. Anderson out.”

“One last thing, Commander. Contact the quarians. They're ready to talk and with the turian fleet stretch so thin, we could use their assistance.” this was clearly not a request from Hackett, but an order.

“Understood, sir.”

“Keep in mind, the geth boarder is unstable. Be careful out there. Hackett out.”

Shepard sighed as the hologram dissolved. _That's just one more thing to add to an already unstable heap of things to do_. A real sense of dread washed over her when she saw Liara heading her way. The asari rarely left her quarters these days. When she did, it was usually with something big. Some bit of news that generally meant trouble for the crew of the Normandy. She sighed and stopped, waiting for the woman to reach her, hands dropping limply to her sides.

“Shepard? Do you have a moment?” Liara asked before coming to a stop before her. She did not wait before she blurted out her news. “A contact within the Asari High Commander was insistent I pass on a distress signal to you.”

“Something _they_ can't handle?” Shepard asked as she took a step toward the stairs.

Liara followed, continuing with her information. “From what I can tell, they sent several commando squads to investigate. None of them returned. They... didn't ask me directly, but I think High Command was hoping you might help.”

Shepard stopped near the stairs leading up toward the War Room and the CIC. She turned as the asari stopped and crossed her arms. “What's your take on this?”

“That they wouldn't ask for help unless it was important. The colony's coordinates are on the galaxy map. I'll try to figure out what's going on.” Liara narrowed her eyes and answered. She turned to go and glanced back over her shoulder quickly, as if she might have left out some detail. “There was one more thing, Shepard. A message was piggybacked on the transmission... encrypted to your fingerprint. I'll send it to your omni-tool.”

Before Shepard could question her further, the asari hurried up the stairs past her and headed toward the CIC. The commander's omni-tool pinged a moment later. A tiny security access screen popped up requesting her thumbprint.

The moment she touched her thumb to the screen a vid-message popped up. Shepard whispered in shock at the image that resolved itself on the screen. “Nana...”

“Come to Lessus, dear, but be careful. The Reapers at our door are not the only monsters here.” the recording of Nana said cryptically.


	58. A Different Kind of Calibrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus finally gets some information about his family while considering just how to smooth over the deeds of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader Discretion is strongly advised here. Smuff proceeds.... It took awhile, but it's finally here... and it's long. [take that any way you want to]

The intention was to run some firing algorithms and keep the giant gun in perfect calibration. He ended up sitting on the crate in the battery for a good many hours in deep thought. The stress was getting the better of him lately. His emotions were running unchecked. He knew it was only a matter of time before he made a critical mistake running so hard. Maybe he already had... today. _Did Kaidan really need to die? Shepard's right, we need some downtime and soon_.

Levering himself up off the crate and stepping up to the console, he realized what he really needed was news of his father and sister. There were still so many missing with little hope of finding more than a handful of them. He begged the spirits to let his family be among the survivors. It was their silence that was tearing down his defenses. Alive or dead, he needed to know.

Tapping a couple of keys on the console, he noticed the message light blinking and opened the link. He expected to hear a recorded message. Instead it patched him into a live transmission. His jaw dropped when he heard the voice through the static. Hearing that voice was more than he had hoped for.

“Garrus, we're attempting to leave Palaven. We're trying to reach the evacuation centers...” Castis Vakarian's voice modulated through the static.

“Dad! A.. are you there? Come in.” his heart was hammering against his keel as he called to his father through the interference.

“The krogan are helping, but the Reapers are still advancing.” the digital garbage in the link nearly swamped the elder Vakarian's voice.

Garrus huffed out a frustrated breath and tried to clean the transmission up. “Where are you now?”

“Your sister was hurt...”

“Hurt? How bad?” spikes of anxiety drilled into his nerves. Those were new, he realized, or at least unfamiliar.

“A broken leg. She'll live.” Castis replied.

“Dad, you have to get out of there.” Garrus insisted.

“We're trying, Garrus. There are only a few evacuation ships left. I'm not sure we'll make it in time. We – ” the transmission cut short and filled with static.

Garrus let out a frustrated sigh that almost sounded like a human sob. Glancing up at the ceiling, he found himself asking the spirits a serious favor. He asked them for protection, as he had just before entering the Collector base. Not for himself, no, he could depend on his own skills for that, but for those he loved. “Spirits... please.... watch over them. Let me see them again.”

The turian was so involved in the moment that he had not noticed the door behind him opening or Shepard stepping in. He leaned on the console, hands on the corners and looked down at the keys feeling lost. Her hands encircled his right upper arm mere moments after the transmission ended. Blinking, he put his left hand over both of hers and glanced her way. The bruising around her wrist was beginning to fade and the bonding tattoo in deep Palaven blue looked amazing against her skin.

“They'll make it out.” she said confidently.

“I hope so.” was all he could bring himself to say.

“They will. If I know anything about the Vakarian clan it's how resourceful, diligent and _stubborn_ its members can be.” Shepard soothed him.

“Stubborn, huh?” Garrus caught that reference.

“Oh yeah.” there was a smile on her face that was infectious. He could not help the slight spreading of his mandibles.

Turning to face her, he put his hands on her shoulders and rested his brow-plates against her forehead. “I... uh.... hmmm... I love.... this... about you. I don't... I don't know where that confidence comes from, but... well... it helps...”

Shepard smiled up at him when his stomach let out a loud complaint for food. Her hands wrapped around his wrists and drew his hands to her waist. “You should eat something.”

“Yeah...” he sighed thinking it might be easier now that he knew his family was alive. He tried to push the possible reason the transmission had gone dead out of his mind.

“Come on. I'll make you some kava.” Shepard nodded sideways at the door and released his wrists only to take his hand.

Shepard headed for the door and he followed, drawn along by the hand that gripped his firmly. She never ceased to amaze him, always there when he needed her most. He only hoped he provided the same support and comfort to her. Some part of him knew that was one of the simple truths of their relationship. They were lost without each other. No Shepard without Vakarian, she had said once. The same was true for him as well, no Vakarian without Shepard. Somehow, their fates had become so intertwined as to be inextricable from the other nearly from the first moment they had met.

True to her word, she made him an entire pot of kava and then rummaged around in search of food for the both of them. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply with a smile widening his mandibles the moment the smell of cooking meat wafted to him on the recycled air. The mixture of kava and kantog was nearly intoxicating. He had thought he had eaten the last of those steaks more than a week ago. The fact that Shepard had found one and knew how to cook it caused one brow-plate to raise questioningly.

“Where... did you learn to cook that?” he asked curiously.

“Nana.” she said simply.

Garrus grunted. He realized it had to be true. The question was, who had Nana taught her to cook it for? Until they met on Menae, he was sure Shepard and Lilfrey had not known each other. He felt a faint pang of jealousy and pushed it to the side. _Ancient history_ , he reminded himself. _Probably long before she ever knew you existed, Vakarian. Just like Alenko..._ He could not suppress the sigh at the thought of the man. The human had threatened the most important thing in the galaxy to him... more than once. Now he was dead and, if the turian were being honest with himself, he did not exactly regret taking him out. It was a fact, that even though he meant to keep to himself, he also meant to make up to Shepard.

“Here we go...” Shepard said with a smile as she set a plate and his scalloped mug down in front of him. His nose plates twitched approvingly at the the combination of smells rolling up at him.

A moment later, she came back to the table with a plate of her own along with a mug of coffee. He frowned at the contents of her plate, nose catching the obvious scent of some kind of meat buried under a red sauce of some type. “What _is_ that?”

“Barbecued chicken.” she answered and cut into what must have been breast meat from the animal.

Garrus was not quite sure what it smelled like exactly. He was not even sure the smell was really all that appealing. The thing that turned the scent sour for him was the name of the animal. He knew it was an Earth bird of some kind. More specific was the fact that it was a bird, something he and his people had been referred to as for decades. Even still, he decided the smell was not offensive. In an odd kind of way, it was almost appealing as it continued to mingled with the smell of his own meal.

“What?” Shepard asked, a stricken look crossing her face as she held a bite inches from her mouth.

“Hmm... smells.... interesting.” _That's the best you can come up with, Vakarian? Really? Mom taught you better manners than that_.

“Interesting, huh?” Shepard simply smiled and popped that piece of meat into her mouth. She licked the red sauce off her lips and he found the action mesmerizing.

Garrus did not know how long he sat there just staring at her. It must have been several minutes. He blinked, startled when she drew his attention back to the here and now.

“Normandy to Garrus. Please report to the mess hall, your meal is getting cold.” Shepard was still smiling, but he could see the lines of concern beginning to etch into her face.

“Hmmm... I was just thinking.” he mumbled and virtually picked at the meat on his plate. After a moment, he pulled a small pouch out of a pocket of his civvies and deposited it on the table beside his plate. 

_No time like the present. She's going to find out sooner or later anyway_. With that thought, he upended the pouch on the table carefully. Several small stones spilled out across the surface and Shepard eyed them suspiciously.

“Sooo.... what's the gravel for?” Shepard asked from her seat across from him.

“There's a..... there's a reason some humans call us... um.... 'birds'.” Garrus said simply.

“I thought I took care of that here on the Normandy....” she began in irritation, clearly meaning to rise from her seat and stomp a mud-hole in someone's ass.

“I meant in general, sweetie.” Garrus said quickly as he reached out and covered the hand she had planted on the table before getting to her feet. 

Sitting and relaxing back into her chair, Shepard met his eyes. “Ok, I'll bite. Why?”

“Turians... uh... we....... hmmmm.... we have gizzards, Shepard.” he admitted, eyes narrowed and looking anywhere other than her face.

“I thought Lilihierax was joking on Noveria.” she breathed the name flawlessly and visibly paled. When he simply stared at her, her hand rose to her throat and he saw the realization dawn on her face. “You're not, are you?”

“Huh-uh...” he mumbled before taking up a couple of stones and tossing them into his mouth. 

Swallowing them, rough as they were, was not the most pleasant of experiences. He squeezed his eyes shut and ducked his head into his cowl a couple of times to assist the process. When he opened his eyes again, Shepard was staring at him wide-eyed... Was it wonder? Fascination? Maybe horror? He could not quite peg the expression.

“Oh god, Garrus, that looks painful. How many of those do you have to eat?” she finally asked, eyeing the small pile of stones beside his plate.

“Not many... four or five.” he huffed a laugh as he looked at the pile. “The big ones are the hardest. Not as painful as it must look, but not comfortable either.”

“Couldn't you... you know, coat them in jelly... or something? Swallow them with a bite of steak? Anything?” she asked in concern.

“If we had dextro based jelly... maybe. The steak would just wrap around it and force it all the way through. Defeat the whole purpose...” he answered with a faint sigh.

“Paste....” Shepard said thoughtfully.

“What?” he tilted his head sideways hoping she did not mean that awful stuff she called toothpaste. He had eaten some of that once with a couple of stone. True, it was dextro friendly and had done the trick, but that was where any compatibility ended. It had kept him in the bathroom most of the day.

“Dextro protein paste.” Shepard elaborated. A moment later she stood and walked around to his side of the table. She stepped in behind him and leaned down to breath into his ear pore. “We have some in our quarters... and... I can think of something... _much_ more pleasant than eating stones.”

Garrus could not help the hum or the smile that spread his mandibles as he tossed down the rest of his steak. Shepard had barely stepped away and headed for the corridor leading to the elevator when he virtually tossed his plate at the sink. He made short work of washing it and then hurried after her, kava in hand.

Shepard gave him a quick laugh as the elevator doors closed between them. She waved at him and he grumbled darkly. The woman was playing varren and pyjack again. The humans called it cat and mouse. It amounted to the same game. She dropped a hint or two at some fun and ran off, enticing him to follow. Grumble though he might when she got ahead of him, he still very much enjoyed the game.

Even though they had been together for several months now, there were still moments of inter-species awkwardness. Most of those moments were lit by the light of the fish tank only. He had rare moments when he forgot just how delicate her skin really was. A nip was too hard, a talon scratched and drew blood or even a thigh plate scraped her raw. He had learned quickly to file the spurs on his forearms down lest they rip her tender skin open. The first time that had happened, he zipped completely left of his normal center and panicked at the sight of so much blood pouring from a scrape across her ribs.

Shepard had her own set of moments like that with him, but not so extreme. During their second encounter, the night after the Collector base, she had been too anxious. Her fingers had slipped past his seam and into the delicate pouch of tissue that made up his sheath. His yelp was so sharp she had practically thrown herself off him in a blink. The foreign intrusion had caused serious delay in that encounter.

Now the worst she did was shift the wrong way and bend it at an awkward angle or rub it against those protective plates. It simply receded and he would smile at her _and_ the irony of the situation. That was frustrating, but manageable with a little time and care.

Those were the thoughts racing through his mind as the elevator came back to his level. His plates were already loosening at the though of what she clearly had in mind. He meant to take it slow, however. Build it up with his meager romantic skills and sweep them both over the edge of passion. He wanted it to be so devastating that they completely forgot the Reapers and any other outside distraction. Settling for anything less would be an insult.

The moment the door to their quarters opened before him, her fresh scent overlapped their co-mingled scent. If someone had told him a five years ago that the scent of freshly tilled soil and turian roses would be such a turn-on, he would have told them they were completely insane. He followed the scent through their darkened quarters until he found her. She was tucked into the corner of the couch with that sketch pad again. Drawing closer to her, he peeked over the edge as he sat beside her.

Clearing his throat, he nearly choked at the image she was sketching. His brow-plates raised in surprise. Her strokes were sure with the stylus and he swallowed hard. He knew how her hands felt on him. To have her sketching that hidden part of his anatomy so accurately was flattering. Sketching it with what must be her hands around it was... stimulating.

The smile on her face said it all. The fact that she was biting her lower lip told him even more. He wanted her mouth on him. Anywhere. He did not care where so long as she gave him the chance to show her what he held in his heart for her. That was something he planned to do for the rest of his days, no matter how few or how many he might have left. He thanked the spirits that she had given him that chance when she filled out that bonding contract.

“You know, I'm sitting right here. Flattering though that is... I... uh... can think of more interesting things to do... with the real thing.” he still stammered when mentioning anything of that nature, not because she found it utterly irresistible, but because he was still trying to prevent that blush she so wanted to invoke.

“Uh-huh... go take care of those stones you need.” Shepard glanced up thoughtfully for a second, then smile at him. “Just don't eat the toothpaste this time.”

“You know about that, do you?” Garrus asked quietly.

Shepard huffed a laugh. “Yeah..... You ate a whole a tube of it, m' love. Kind of hard not to miss that.”

“Hmm... just so you know... it was awful.” Garrus snarked.

“I bet since you were MIA the rest of the day.” she chuckled as she set the sketchpad aside on the coffee table.

Glancing down at the drawing, he swallowed hard and tossed a thumb over his shoulder toward the bathroom. “I'm... uh...... gonna go take care of those stones, but... I'll be back.”

“You better be, Vakarian. I have plans for you.” she purred at him.

Garrus was glad that tonight seemed to be playing out relatively smoothly. It would not take him long to gulp down a couple more stones. He found the dextro protein paste on the shelf next to the hamster cage. That fuzzy little guy had been a pain in the ass to catch the second time he got loose. He tapped the glass with the lid on the tube and flicked the tip of his tongue out at it the second it stood up to him.

“Don't torment Gary, lover.” Shepard called and Garrus wondered how she knew. Huffing, he glanced back toward her and stuck his tongue out at the model case before stepping into the bathroom. Just before the door slid shut, he heard her call again. “I'm gonna give that tongue a job, you keep stickin' it out at me.”

“How.... how does she know?” he grumbled to himself the moment the door slid shut.

The moment he was finished in the bathroom, he stepped out and glanced at the fish tank. _That's the answer! She can see the whole room in the reflection of the glass_. The smug smile across his mandibles fell slack at the sight of her completely naked, waiting for him on the bed. His clothes were gone before he realized he had unfastened the first buckle. Plates already spreading, he crawled up her body, nose grazing her skin along the way. He would have straddled her if she had not wrapped her legs around his waist first.

Shepard barely gave him a chance to catch his balance before she had guided him into her. Now she slipped slickly against his ridges deliciously. He made sure to angle his thrusts so that those very ridges bumped, slid and ground against her exposed bundle of nerves. The position was trickier than he had thought it would be. If she were turian, it would have been a simple matter. She would have been between his legs then instead of having her legs hiked up over his hip crests. He did not feel like he was getting enough leverage, especially with her muscular legs trying to squeeze his waist up into his carapace.

Glancing to his right, he frowned in thought at the chair tucked against the wall between the couch and the desk. The height looked about right to him. After a couple of seconds, he made a decision and slipped free of his bondmate. She groaned at him and tried to physically convince him to stay.

“Where are you going?” she complained.

His feet were under him in an instant. A moment later, she was up in his arms. He carried her across the room in just three long strides. When she glared at him indignantly, he simply smiled at her, a slight widening of his mandibles.

“What are you up to?” she asked suspiciously.

“Something we should have tried months ago.” Garrus said, depositing her in the chair.

Shepard chuckled as he dropped to his knees before her. From the expression on her face, he knew she had figured out where he was going with this. They lined up almost perfectly when he wrapped his hands around her hips and tugged her rump at the edge of the cushion. His open groin plates were a little above her folds, but not by more than an inch or two. It would work far better than him shredding the bedding with his toe talons.

Drawing her legs up into the bends of his elbows, he positioned himself and then simply sat there. A smug look crinkled the skin around his eyes as a kinky thought crossed his mind. _Why the hell not? We're bonded. Let's keep it interesting._ Another thought came hot on the heels of that last. _As if it could ever get boring with Shepard..._.

Rather than going for it right off, he rested his erection against her and rubbed those six ridges she delighted in so much along her folds. He huffed a quiet laugh at the half moan that escaped her then. He offered just enough stimulus to keep her wound up, but completely denied the build toward release. That was clearly frustrating her and he meant to keep her that way for a couple of minutes.

“Are you waiting for someone to interrupt us?” she growled at him finally, eyes narrowing at him.

“Ask me for it.” he growled softly at her, his erection twitching against her in demand.

Shepard stared at him. A half dozen heartbeats and a couple more demanding twitches later, she finally broke the silence. “Come _on_ , Garrus... You can't be serious.”

“ _Spirits_... the 'Great _Commander_ Shepard' isn't shy... is she?” his sub-harmonics growled seductively through his half whispered voice. He chuckled at her gasp when he dipped his head to the side and ran his tongue over the inside of her knee.

“That's _not_ fair, _Vakarian_.....” she growled at him.

“Tell me what you want...” he said smoothly before licking the other knee.

When she shifted in an effort to get a hold of him, he exercised that superior reach and gently pinned her hands to the armrests. His eyes were half-lidded with his own desire as his mandibles spread in a faint smile “Huh-uh... _tell_ me...”

“Kinky bastard... Where did _this_ come from?” she breathed in frustration, but there was a half crooked smile attempting to spread across her face. She glanced down at the object of her desire hungrily.

“Hmm... always been there. I just... uh.... hmmm.. wasn't sure how you'd... react to it.” Garrus purred his admission.

“I think I like where this is going.” Shepard squirmed and wiggled her hips against him.

His eyes squeezed shut with a resonant purring growl at the action and the sensations it invoked along his nervous system. He had to admit, he liked where this was going as well. Increasing those sensations, he leaned forward and ran his tongue from her collarbone to her jaw. When he neared her ear, he nipped it lightly between his mouth plates.

“ _Ask_...” he whispered into her ear. Hips rocking slightly against her, he made sure she was not getting bored with this bit of play. _No chance of that,_ he realized as she nuzzled against his scarred mandible before running her tongue from rear flange to forward tips.

The shiver the action alone sent through him was nearly enough to unhinge him. Devious little thing that she was, he realized she was trying to turn the tables on him. It was working, but he would not let her know she held that kind of power over him here. Not yet. He meant to enjoy this as long as he physically could.

“ _Sheath_ it... _in_ me. You know you _want_ to, Garrus.” Shepard all but hissed in his ear pore before gently clicking her teeth against his mandible.

“ _Spirits_...” he whispered, realizing she must have been watching turian porn to get that gritty.

That was his breaking point. His desire for her spiraled out of control and he carefully did as she had asked. Each of the six banded ridges around the shaft followed the pointed head slowly. It drew a shuddering gasp from each of them with each immersed ridge until he was seated to his plates within her. He never grew tired of the feeling of completion that swirled up through his core once he settled in. Pressing his plated brow against her forehead, he opened his eyes and gazed into hers. They're connection went so much further than this one physical act, it always had. Deep down, he thought he might have loved her from the first moment he had met her.

This angle was so much better for him, he realized as he began to slowly rock into her. From the way her eyes rolled back and mouth dropped open slightly, he figured it must be good for her too. He released her hands and held onto her legs as if they were mooring clamps holding him in place. When her head dropped back onto the backrest of the chair with a soft moan, the turian knew beyond a doubt that this angle was working for her.

A couple of solid strokes later and the chair shifted with a hard thump against the wall. Shepard simply bit her lip and gripped the edges of the chair's arms. That left his hips free to adjust the angle just a little more and he curled over her, tilting his hips upward a fraction with his next thrust. He hit a firm barrier within her and growled with the intensity of the pleasure that jolted through him from his tip all the way up his spine.

From the way she shuddered and gasped he knew it was having a similar effect on her. He thrust into her a couple more times and his breath hitched. At this rate he would finish in record time. The first time was always quick with her, however. She was similar enough to a turian woman where it counted, but so very different in how her internal muscles worked. That first night, he had thought he was going to lose his mind with the way her muscles squeezed and released him during every thrust.

It was the same now, just as it was every time they were together. The sensations danced along his nerve endings in a scintillating arc of burning pleasure so unlike anything he could experience with one of his own kind. He pressed his left mandible against her right cheek, his right hand coming up to cup her jaw just before her ear. That ear rested between the two main digits of that hand as his movements increased.

“You're so soft... all over...” he whispered. He leaned back, rising up to bring her ankles up over his shoulders, changing the angle somewhat. A moan escaped him as her inner muscles constricted around him.

One hand found its way between them and he ever so gently pinched that bundle of nerves between his forefinger and thumb. He still found it odd that this point of stimulation was set so far from the actual origin of activity. A turian woman's stimulation point was right at the opening to ensure she gained the maximum pleasure possible. With Shepard, he had learned to adapt. He alternated between rolling the pad of his finger over it and pressing it against the largest ridge of his base.

Shepard clenched around him, her hands gripping the rim of his cowl. She drew him down toward her and slipped her tongue past his mouth plates to caress his tongue. His left palm hit the wall behind the chair with a hard thud and his right arm slipped in behind her shoulder. The rhythm had carried them both to the peek of pleasure.

The second she cried out in release, her short nails nearly tore a small plated scale from the unprotected muscles of his left shoulder. He did not care if she ripped his arm wide open in that moment. His own release was building quickly now. Her muscles were still contracting, her hips still bucking against him in aftershocks when his orgasm tore through him. A muted cry of pleasure gurgled out of him as he threw his head back with one final thrust forward.

It was a rare thing for Garrus to finish so completely without Shepard getting a grip on his hips and assisting when his rhythm faltered. More common for them was him stuttering to an almost frozen halt from the intensity and her picking up the rhythm to finish them both. He relished the moments when his stamina carried him all the way through. With the few turian women he had once had, his staying power had often left him wanting while she chased him off. Not so with his bondmate. She could easily match him and if she finished first, she always made sure he was never left wanting. There were things she could do with her mouth that he found absolutely mind blowing.

“Ten minutes to Lessus, Commander.” came Joker's disembodied voice.

“Thank you, Joker.” Shepard growled breathlessly.

“Uh-oh, am I interrupting something?” Joker asked cautiously.

“You could say that.” Garrus purred even as he continued to nuzzle into Shepard's neck.

“Oh... _Oh, god!_ Not again... I need to bleach my brain now. Did not need that mental image! Joker out!”

Shepard started giggling, her muscles clenching around him tightly before he had completely receded. The stimulation brought about a new surge of desire and he growled near her ear. “Ready for round two?”

“Ten minutes?” Shepard asked as Garrus raised up to meet her eyes.

“I think I can manage that.” he purred.


	59. A Brief Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and Garrus finish up their 'extra curricular activity' before she heads for the flight deck and the mission to Lessus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really short chapter here.

Shepard's giggles at Joker's indignant grumbling turned to a gasp of near blinding pleasure as her turian thrust into her with renewed vigor. Once completely seated within her again, he shifted her legs to rest over his hip crests and lifted her from the chair as if she weighed nothing. The little movements of his hip and groin muscles as he moved sent thrills of pleasure radiating through her.

“Where are you taking me, Vakarian?” she purred against his neck as she clung to him.

“The shower... ten minutes, remember. We can... uh... finish this... and rinse off at the same time.” he half growled as he made his way up the three steps toward the room in question.

The moment he carried her into the room, he pressed her back against the wall beneath the shower head. She gasped at the sudden cold contact. He held her there with one arm while the other fiddled with the shower nobs. She gasped and squawked in shock as cold water suddenly cascaded over her head and shoulders.

“ _Spirits!_ ” Garrus snapped breathlessly as some of that frigid water ran down his abdominal plates.

Shepard giggled again despite the cold, taking a profoundly vengeful pleasure in hearing his shock at the cold as well. Patting at the wall with one hand, she found the hot water nob and adjusted the temperature before he froze them both to death. A deep sigh of satisfaction escaped her as the temperature stabilized around something closer to comfortable. She nibbled her way down his neck to the hole in the rim of his cowl. Part of her wanted to cry out loud 'not fast enough' as her slitted eyes fell on that shattered scar. Instead, she simply kissed the edges, smoothed by scar tissue as much as medical treatment now. He had reminded her more than once; he was alive, he was here and he was hers. There was nowhere else he would rather be.

As soon as the water reach a level comfortable for him, he began moving within her again. She had thought the cold water had done their extra curricular activity in. Apparently not, she realized as his rhythm picked up speed. Turians were not humans, after all. He seemed determined to chase that last burst of pleasure before jumping back into the hell that was this war.

Shepard wrapped her arms around his cowl and simply clung to him, moving as much as he allowed with her pinned between his body and the wall. His lower back and core muscles flexed powerfully beneath her thighs. He let out a ragged sigh as his plated brow banged into the wall above her shoulder. His head rested there, neck muscles straining to help support his movements. She was about to crest that wave herself when he shuddered with a snarl and thrust, thumping her against the wall just a little harder than intended. The sudden pulsing within her carried her over the edge of that wave of pleasure and she all but sobbed his name.

Garrus was breathing raggedly above her, eyes closed and face relaxed. Water poured around his neck and down over the muscles within his cowl. His mandibles flicked the stream of water away from his mouth rhythmically as he stood there for several long moments. He was clearly trying to regain some semblance of control before he finally moved and allowed her to slip away from him. The turian did not release her entirely until he had receded back behind his plates, however. He had explained to her once that to do so could be painful for him or could result in injury. Especially with some of the angles they had to resort to. She did not argue, but simply allowed nature to take its course.

Once her feet were fully on the floor again and he moved away enough to release her from the wall, she reached over and grabbed the soap. Just rinsing off was not going to do. She meant to soap them both up as much as possible. The smell of sex was a distraction neither of them needed with the coming mission.

It did not take long to lather them both up. He allowed her to help him work his plates open just enough to rinse their recent activity from the deep blue tissue of his sheath as well. That was something he had done strictly for himself until just recently. Her fingers, much smaller with blunted nails instead of talons, had proven much more efficient at coaxing those plates open just a fraction. He claimed that and her lighter touch were the reasons he allowed it. She knew it had more to do with the level of trust between them. It was his way of seeking a more intimate bond with her. There were plenty of hints about that short of thing all over the extranet regarding turian relationships. She simply chalked it up to trust, they trusted each other implicitly by this point.

Once showered Garrus opted to forgo the oiling until after the mission. They had dried each other off, practicing a great deal of self-control in the process. The deceleration of the ship under their feet told them some time ago that they had reached their destination. Joker had refrained from contacting them again, however, and Shepard chuckled inwardly at that. She knew the man was probably scarred for life having interrupted them a couple of times now. Somehow, she knew a time might come when he contacted them while in the middle of something more. He would get an earful for sure then. She meant to tease and taunt him afterward. It was only fair given some of the teasing he did himself.

When Shepard made her way to the flight deck, Joker very deliberately kept his eyes on his console. She smiled to herself before asking. “See any trouble in this system?”  
“No Reaper presence detected. If they're here, we're not reading them.” he paused, tapping a couple of keys. “Could be a vanguard of ground troops. Wouldn't pick those up on sensors.”

“Keep the comm open. I've got a bad feeling about this.” Shepard said as traced the rounded surface of the planet with her eyes. She touched the implant near her ear and called for her team to assemble. “Garrus, Grunt, meet me in the shuttle bay. We're going to the surface.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ends part three. Moving on to part four and so much more... 😋  
> ****  
> On a serious real world note; the Coronavirus/Covid-19 is some gnarly stuff. Wash your hands until the tendons show and stay positive. In this era of social distancing and isolation, we all need to reach out to each other via any social media we can. This is as good a place as any for that. Talk about the chapters, the characters, the games or the real world. Give me your suggestions, make notes, scream about the injustice of it all. I check in here several times a day. I'll read it and comment back.
> 
> Above all, keep your spirits up, contact family and friends via the phone or internet [if possible] and stay safe. Remember: This too shall pass.


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